From Deseret News archives:
Utah gets 'D-' for gun laws that could protect children
"Our laws on guns are abysmal," said Marla Kennedy, executive director of Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah.
For the past 10 years Kennedy has lobbied for legislation that would protect children from access to guns. Sen. Paula Julander, D-Salt Lake, plans to resurrect a bill during the 2004 Legislature to do just that.
The proposed law comes at a time when the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence issued its annual report, which once again gave Utah a "D-" grade on its gun laws as it applies to children. The group, named after President Ronald Reagan's press secretary Jim Brady who was shot and disabled during a 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan, marked Utah down for passing a law that allows concealed handguns to be carried into schools.
"We routinely get a near-failing grade," said Kennedy. "I'm hoping this will spur Utahns to vote out legislators who routinely have given Utah a D-."
To gun-rights groups the report card is like a broken record.
"They should be called the Brady Bunch," said Janalee Tobias, founder of Women Against Gun Control. "And just like the Brady Bunch was a fairy-tale family on TV, (the Brady group) is still living in a fairy-tale world. If they want to disarm themselves after 9/11 the rest of us don't want to be victims. Now is not the time to pass more laws."
The Brady group said Utah can improve its grade this year by banning assault weapons, requiring child-safety locks to be sold with guns to prevent unintentional shooting and holding adults responsible if they leave loaded guns around children.
Julander's bill would provide a criminal penalty for a gun owner who "negligently" stores a firearm in a way that allows a minor to get possession and harm himself or others.
It's a law that has failed to spark much interest on Capitol Hill. Gun-rights advocates have lobbied heavily against any bills that would deny or restrict a person's right of self defense.
"We've been trying in some form to get this through," Kennedy said. "I think there's a problem when legislators won't even talk about it."
That's particularly frustrating when Utahns overwhelmingly don't support guns in schools, she said.
The Brady group cited statistics showing 28 children and teenagers in Utah were killed by gunfire in 2001, an increase of 12 more children from the previous year.
On a positive note, the Brady group credited Utah for limiting the sale and possession of handguns by children, but the group said Utah should also require all gun buyers to go through criminal background checks to prevent criminals, fugitives and juveniles from buying guns.
"Utah lawmakers should be ashamed of the poor job they are doing to protect our children from gun violence," Kennedy said. "This year Utah went backwards by allowing concealed handguns into schools."
E-MAIL: donna@desnews.com
