Alabama House committee rejects bill making parents liable when children bring guns to school

Yahoo

20-02-2025

Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, speaks during a debate in the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 12, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. A House committee rejected a bill sponsored by Drummond that would have imposed criminal penalties on parents of children who bring unauthorized firearms to school. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
Lawmakers Wednesday halted a bill that could have made parents and guardians who don't secure their firearms criminally liable if their children bring those guns to school.
The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee rejected HB 103, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, that would have subjected parents to a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine if their child brings an unauthorized firearm to school.
'I want you to know that this is not anti-gun bill or a gun control bill,' she said to members of the committee. 'This is a pro-parenting and pro-schools bill to help us prevent children from bringing their parents' guns to school campuses.'
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Drummond introduced the legislation after she noticed an increasing number of incidents in which children brought firearms to school.
The bill would require parents to attach a trigger lock device to a gun or storing the firearm in a lock box that requires a key or some kind of combination to unlock.
This is the third consecutive year that Drummond introduced legislation that held parents responsible should their children gain access to their firearm and subsequently bring the weapon to school with them.
The 2023 version of her legislation made it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000, for someone to have a firearm after they were convicted of a violence offense or had a protection order because of domestic abuse.
That version also had a section that made it a Class A misdemeanor for minors, or those with a drug or alcohol addiction, to have a firearm. Parents could also be convicted of a Class C felony if they fail to safely secure their firearms, and their children bring the weapon to school.
In 2024, Drummond downgraded the punishment to a Class A misdemeanor if parents fail to secure their firearms and their children bring it to school. It also left in place the other elements pertaining to people who had been convicted of a violent offense, along with punishing minors and people with an addiction to alcohol and drugs.
In the most recent version, Drummond stripped the bill down to criminal liability for parents who fail to secure their firearms.
The bill was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last year.
Democrats on the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee unanimously voted in favor of the legislation, but Drummond failed to get enough support from Republicans.
'My basic opposition to this particular bill is that it applies a criminal offense based on another person's actions,' said Rep. Ginny Shaver, R-Leesburg. 'No matter what you do, if the child does take a gun to school, that person's action is then going to trigger a criminal penalty on someone else.'
Drummond then warned her colleagues of the potential consequences after members voted against her proposal.
'I hope none of our children die as a result,' she said.
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