Alabama lawmakers have rightfully rejected the idea of a “red flag” law this session, and instead have pursued a strategy of giving gun owners who need to temporarily take their firearms out of their home a safe and secure place to store them.
SB 40, also known as the Houston-Hunter Act, sailed through the House and Senate in recent days and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. Once the governor pduts pen to paper, Alabamans will, at least theoretically, have a number of options for temporary off-site storage of their firearms when needed.
SB40 authorizes firearm hold agreements. Through the agreement, a licensed gun dealer agrees to:
- take physical possession of the gun owner’s lawfully possessed firearm at the owner’s request
- holds the firearm for an agreed period of time
- returns the gun to the owner
Under SB40, an individual would not have the legal right to sue a gun dealer for returning a firearm to the owner at the end of the hold agreement. This provision would not apply to actions that stem from unlawful conduct on the part of the gun dealer.
Rep.Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster, explained that the bill clears the way for the establishment of a new program providing gun storage lockers.
“There is a program that is already well underway of being created called the ‘Safer’ program. What this program will do is with any federally licensed gun dealer, gun stores, gun shops, that choose to participate, the program will go to that location and provide education and most importantly provide some secure gun lockers. When military, military veterans, first responders, and frankly anyone in the community, if they are experiencing suicidal ideations, they would feel better not having their weapons in their possession, they can go to one of these locations. They can open up the locker. They can retrieve literature on how to get suicide prevention help. They place their weapon in there, lock it, and they walk away. It separates them from their weapon,” Bedsole explained.
SB 40 is actually even broader than Bedsole’s description. Under the bill, a gun owner can utilize a firearm hold agreement for any reason. Preventing self-harm may be the primary goal, but if there’s another household member in crisis, or even if the gun owner is going to be away from home for an extended period of time and doesn’t feel comfortable leaving their collection behind, they can utilize the services of a local gun dealer to keep their firearms in a secure location for a set period of time.
We’ve covered similar programs repeatedly here at Bearing Arms, including the Wisconsin Gun Shop Project and the work of non-profits like Hold My Guns. I’m a big fan of these programs, which are entirely voluntary in nature and don’t abuse due process rights like “red flag” laws. I’m also glad to see that SB 40 was amended slightly before it received its final round of approval in the legislature; removing local and county law enforcement as another option for off-site storage. The House removed that provision and limited off-site storage to federally licensed gun dealers only; a change that is likely going to lead to less skepticism and suspicion about the program and increase buy-in from gun owners around the state.
In order for the Houston-Hunter Act (named after two veterans who took their lives) to be as successful as possible, however, the state’s “Safer” program needs to be awfully robust. Any gun shop that wants or needs a gun locker (or more than one, frankly) should be able to get one quickly and without being bogged down by bureaucrats. If the program is streamlined and shaped to support those FFLs and gun owners in need it could be of huge help, and I’m looking forward to seeing the details of how the “Safer” program will operate once SB 40 becomes law.
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