John,

Last Friday marked two years since the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida -- the deadliest school shooting in our country's history. In addition to holding the families who lost their loved ones close to our hearts this past week--as well as the brave young survivors of the tragedy--we were again reminded of the stakes at play while we look for common sense ways to prevent these horrific crimes: the lives of America's children.

So, today, I want to focus on safe storage of guns. This is something that just makes good common sense. Guns, after all, are deadly weapons and should be treated as such -- and kept secure. This is all the more important given what we know about the gun violence epidemic in our country. It is, sadly, being fueled in part by accidents and missteps by lawful gun owners. Hundreds of thousands of unsecured guns are stolen every year, and many more wind up in the hands of family, friends, and --- yes -- children.

Consider the shooting at Clackamas Town Center in 2012. We may never know what motivated the gunman to open fire, killing two shoppers -- Cynthia Yuille and Steven Forsythe -- and himself. But we do know he was easily able to steal the rifle and ammunition he used from a friend, and that neither was secure. The friend didn't initially report to police that his weapon had been stolen. He wasn't required to.

As things currently stand, we have no laws in Oregon requiring safe gun storage, nor any requirement for gun owners to report a missing weapon.

Action on gun safety is long overdue, John, as the family members of Forsythe and Yuille, who have fought for change for years, can attest. Now we have a shot at progress.

I'm proud to support a bill that would require gun owners to safely store firearms and report missing weapons. I testified on behalf of the bill, as did Steve Forsythe's brother-in-law. The room was packed, and the Committee, chaired by Representative Tawna Sanchez, was fully engaged. At this writing, the bill is still moving forward.

This bill provides some of the easiest steps we can take to save lives, and I urge you to join me in supporting its passage by the current session of the Oregon Legislature.

Ellen


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