Should Parents Be Held Responsible for their Children’s Gun Violence?

• In the United States’ most recent fatal mass school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, the suspect’s father legally owned the shotgun and revolver used in the crime.
• This was the latest mass shooting at a school where a student used a parent’s gun (or guns) to kill and injure fellow students or teachers.
• A 2004 report by the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Education found that more than two-thirds of students who used guns in violent acts at school got those guns from their own home or that of a relative.
• This has led to questions about legal responsibility in such circumstances. Do the weapons’ owners bear any liability?

Negligent Storage

• Currently, an uneven patchwork of state laws addresses this question.
• Texas is one of 14 states with a “negligent storage law,” which can hold gun-owning parents criminally liable for crimes their children commit with their firearms.
• Texas’ law does not apply to the Santa Fe shooting, however, as it only applies to children younger than 17. The Santa Fe suspect was 17 at the time of the shooting.
• Some form of negligent storage law is also in place in California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia.
• The laws generally apply when a gun owner “knows or reasonably should know” that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm.

What Do You Think?

Should parents be held responsible when their children use their firearms to commit violence? Hit Take Action, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force)