U-Tubers on storage and transportation
Recently there have been some folks on U-Tube discussing firearms storage regs and firearms transportation regs, with some discussions referencing cases as a result of charges where the regs were being met.
The discussions of cases I have watched, although well meaning, rant (in my opinion) about the defendant meeting the regs, but they do not articulate the concept of the reasonable person test.
What does this have to do with firearms storage or transportation.
The reasonable person test states 'would a reasonable person, given the same set of circumstances, could have OR ought to have known the possible risk and would have acted differently'.
The reasonable person test came into law as a result of a case where the owner of a house with a pool did not fence their pool and as a result an accident happened. In this case the pool owner was not breaking any pre-existing laws but it was determined that they should have known the risk and taken reasonable action to mitigate the risk, subsequent to this decision pool owners were required to fence backyard pools. This case was later used as precedence in other cases to determine if community safety was adequate anytime some thing or some act presented a possible danger to the community even though no laws were being broken.
In one firearms related case discussed by a U-tuber the defendant was charged when the storage rules were being met but there were other residents in the house who had physical access to the stored firearm. One of the residents stole and re-sold the firearms which was later picked up by the police and traced back to the firearm owner. In this discussion the firearm owner met the storage rules but the U-tuber did not directly address how the reasonable person test was not being met.
Do not let these U-Tubers mislead the viewer into thinking if the regs are being met our responsibility for safe storage or transportation has ended. The regs are only the minimum, adequate judgment must be exercised to determine if additional actions are required to maintain community safety given the totality of each situation.
