As a past member of the National Rifle Association, I was bewildered by Beau LaFave’s account of where he kept his guns at the so-called “U.P. Embassy” in Lansing when they were stolen after his “open carry” escapade at the legislature’s joint session. As reported in the Daily News on Feb. 7, Beau said the guns were “hidden in the underwear drawer and were not in a locked safe.” The NRA Family article, “Six Ways To Safely Store Your Firearms,” by B. Gil Horman, published Nov. 5, 2019, recommended trigger locks, gun, cases, strong boxes and security cases, locking steel gun cabinets, and gun safes with attention to safe size. This NRA recommendation did not suggest the sock drawer. LaFave said, “I could have put them in a safe …” so he knows better, but Beau went on to make an argument to justify his keeping weapons snug next to his BVDs, saying, “I … could have mounted a machine gun to the roof,” a reduction to absurdity but not a defense to carelessness.

So state Rep. LaFave should store his guns safely under lock so no one can use them. Hiding won’t do, as criminals know all people’s secret hiding places. Now at least two of Beau’s guns are in criminal hands, because he thought a clever hiding place would be in his underwear drawer with his BVDs.