While our City Council is concerned about potty mouth people at the council meetings, maybe they should look at REAL threats to our community. What should we do with LEGAL gun owners who don’t either secure their guns in their homes (the best idea) or secure them in vehicles by keeping the doors locked and out of view. The Sheriff and Police Chief take issue with it;
With a growing problem like this, we asked what is being done for prevention? Both Police Chief Matt Burns and Milstead say there’s not much that can be done, besides remind gun owners to use common sense.
Both men agree creating laws to punish a gun owner who leaves the weapon in an unlocked car is not the answer.
“South Dakota law is very clear and prohibits municipalities from having any sort of regulation on firearms and things like that. So that’s a bit of a stretch there to believe that some sort of law or sanction would be in place that a victim, who’s the victim of a crime themselves, would face some sort of penalty,” said Burns.
“You know, because you would be taking legit, lawful gun owners and making them criminals because we’re trying to prevent other criminals from stealing their guns. I hate to make lawful gun owners into criminals,” said Milstead.
Milstead says he would much prefer gun owners just do what they’re supposed to; which is lock up the dangerous weapon they don’t want being used to hurt others.
“You’d feel horrible if your gun was stolen out of your car, where you’d left it unlocked. And ultimately it ends up being used by somebody to kill somebody, to rob somebody, to commit a violent crime,” said Milstead.
Sioux Falls City Councilor Pat Starr has suggested a city ordinance that would fine a citizen who didn’t secure a gun in their car by locking the doors and concealing it. It seems there is an issue with State Law, and we know our State Legislature, they would NEVER pass a law like this, in fact, their solution to gun control is MORE guns.
Yeah, they are idiots.
But I wonder if you could get savvy with the ordinance. First off, I would never make it a felony, I would just have a simple fine like a speeding ticket. But instead of naming ‘guns’ specifically, maybe you could phrase the ordinance like this;
If stolen property taken from an unsecured vehicle is used in a crime you will receive a $250 fine and the property will be kept for evidence.
So this could be anything. A knife, gun, tire iron, wrench, etc. This way the gun nuts can’t say we are going after their guns, we are simply telling them, if you own something that can be used as a weapon and you are storing it in your vehicle without securing it, and it is ACTUALLY USED IN A CRIME, you will be accountable. This game of ‘reminding’ people to lock their cars is NOT working. This would be a pleasant reminder.