OKLAHOMA CITY — There were 814 gun deaths in Oklahoma in 2023. Of that figure, 573 (70.4%) of those people died by suicide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — fifth highest percentage of suicide by firearm in the United States.
Oklahoma senators met last Thursday for an interim study to look at the feasibility of voluntary safe gun storage programs.
Voluntary safe gun storage programs allow gun owners to store their firearms in a secure location outside of the home, generally with a federally licensed firearms dealer or law enforcement.
The study, which was sponsored by Sen. Jo Anna Dossett, D-Tulsa, included presentations from the leaders of several voluntary safe gun programs in other states and from a researcher on firearm safety.
In her presentation, Erin Wright-Kelly, research associate at the Injury and Violence Prevention Center and the Director of Research and Evaluation of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative at the Colorado School of Public Health, emphasized the importance of voluntary and safe options for gun owners to store their guns outside of the home. Wright-Kelly said that 85-90% of people who use a gun to attempt suicide die as a result.
“Temporarily restricting access to lethal means is a very effective strategy for preventing suicide,” she said. Though she noted in her presentation, people may want to store their guns outside of their homes for a variety of reasons, including having young children in the house, military deployment or just going on an extended trip.
But a major concern for federally licensed firearms dealers who may want to offer voluntary safe storage options are concerns about liability while storing the firearm and liability once it is returned. Wright-Kelly also said that locker storage options at gun stores might be helpful in expanding these programs.
When gun stores take a gun into their inventory, the gun owner has to pass a background check before they can get their gun out of storage. If a gun owner stores their firearm in a locker at a gun store, they do not have to go through an extra background check because it never actually enters the store inventory.
Sarah Joy Albrecht, co-founder and executive director of Hold My Guns, said she began the organization in 2018 when an 18-year-old family friend died by suicide using a firearm.
“What I found was in 2018, when we lost our friend, was that there was not a way to store firearms off-site voluntarily,” Albrecht said. “So, out of my grief, and I’m a mom of five kids, and out of caring for my children and the loss of their friend, I started to look into what we can do to help gun owners to make responsible life-affirming choices.”
Hold My Guns is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that partners with federally licensed firearms dealers to offer voluntary safe gun storage for gun owners in Pennsylvania and seven other states. Albrecht said the Oklahoma Legislature can help organizations like hers by passing legislation to prevent gun stores that offer voluntary safe storage from liability.
She said it is important for these programs to be “for gun owners, by gun owners,” so that people can trust the storage options. She said gun owners have real privacy concerns around programs like this and concerns about guns being forcibly taken away.
Gala True, a principal investigator with The Armory Project, addressed the issue of liability.
The Armory Project was started in 2021 by several gun stores in Louisiana who wanted to offer voluntary safe gun storage. Since then, the project has spread to Arkansas, Kansas, Florida and Arizona.
True shared that Louisiana has specifically passed legislation addressing liability concerns, which has made it easier for federally licensed firearms dealers to offer this kind of service.
The Armory Project also teaches gun store employees how to discuss mental health concerns with gun owners and what resources are available, which, True noted, is specifically important for veterans, who are more likely to own guns than most Americans.
In her closing comments, Dossett said, 'I am interested and I do see a possibly fruitful path when we're talking about reducing or limiting liability for the firearms dealers who are the trusted partners and really the lynchpin for making programs like this work.'
Dossett’s two Republican colleagues, Senate Public Safety Committee Chairman Darrell Weaver, R-Moore, and Vice Chairman Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, expressed their concerns about the program.
Weaver said that he saw the benefits of these kinds of programs but was concerned that gun owners would have to go through a background check to get their guns out of storage. Hamilton expressed concerns about any voluntary safe gun storage program, arguing that people can attempt suicide through means other than guns. He said that this could open “a real Pandora’s box of citizens’ constitutional rights.”