FIREARMS
Secure firearm storage
The solution between the logical and legal parameters
of firearm possession
There are many different reasons
why a responsible firearm owner
would want or need to legally store
firearms securely off-site: vacation-
ing, moving, inheritance, a growing
collection, military deployment, etc.
With the holiday season ap-
proaching, some responsible gun
owners may voluntarily store their
ERIC
VINCE
firearms in an off-site place in order
REBELS
DAMIANO
to make certain their homes are safe
spaces. However, most who are go-
ing to host family and friends in their homes may not realize
that each of their firearms should be secured and safely stored
at these times.
Police officers often come into situations when there are
logical reasons for citizens to store their firearms securely, but
these instances may not meet the legal threshold for police to
take any action.
Police officers may visit many households in their commu-
nities where growing problems are apparent, whether it’s chil-
dren/adolescents/adults who have been previously arrested,
a couple who has been quarreling persistently, or individuals
who have been involved in the abuse of prescription drugs or
illegal narcotics. These officers may encounter students who
have had past problems at school, or they hear from school
counselors, psychologists or psychiatrists who are seeing an
issue in a patient but determine that this issue has not crossed
the legal point of being an extreme risk. Many times, the per-
son with the problem is in a family or household where a fire-
arm owner lives. Though the firearm owner is not the subject
or focus of these problems, he or she is in danger of losing fire-
arms rights.
On the occasion that a parent or guardian reports that a
child has stolen a firearm from within the home, the report of
this theft to law enforcement could result in criminal felony
charges, possible jail time and legal expenses that the parents
or guardians may have to incur themselves.
Though some police departments may allow the safe keep-
ing of firearms within the station’s control, the process of the
firearm owner retrieving these firearms back from the depart-
ment may be lengthy and require permission from the prose-
cutor’s office. The “Safe Keeping” practice at a police depart-
ment is also paid for by the taxpayers of that particular state,
county or town.
The legal steps necessary to invoke a firearm seizure action,
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ NOVEMBER 2018
especially when the third party is not a firearm owner, may
take days or weeks.
Two laws pertain to the ability to possess firearms. New Jer-
sey 2C:39-7 refers to “certain persons not to have weapons,”
and federal law 18 U.S.C. 922(g) “prohibits the shipment,
transportation, receipt, or possession in or affecting interstate
commerce of a firearm by one who…is an unlawful user of, or
addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, or nar-
cotic drug, or any other controlled substance…”
The NJ statute lists a plethora of different ways or reasons
that a person can become disabled or be labeled a “certain
person” not to use, possess or control firearms. However, chil-
dren are not usually thought of as those “certain people” be-
cause they are not of legal age to own firearms.
What we have found is that many children and adolescents
are not being looked at as “certain persons” not to possess.
The problem is not about where they live, but where they may
roam. A child who is deemed a “certain person not to possess
a firearm” should not stay at the home of a neighbor, friend,
divorced parent, grandparent or other relative where firearms
are present.
These individuals in these places are now governed by the
“status” of this “certain person” who is occasionally around
them. A serious suggestion to the family and all related fire-
arm owners, from a law enforcement officer, would be that the
firearms and weapons should be moved from the home to a
legal, safe place that is out of reach of this “certain person.”
This could be the difference between a current concern and
a future disaster. Somewhere in the middle of Logical vs. Legal,
there is a void between what should be done and what can be
done. In a situation where firearms are present but shouldn’t
be, GunSitters provides a safe and secure place for voluntary
secure firearm storage, paid for by the individual firearm own-
er and keeping the firearms only available to authorized users,
making the community a safer space for everyone to work and
live.
Vince Damiano and Eric Rebels are the co-owners of GunSitters
LLC. Vince Damiano is a combat-disabled veteran who served
in the U.S. Marines, U.S. Army and NJ Army National Guard.
Eric Rebels is a former federal officer with the D.O.D. Police.