The Kentucky legislature will soon consider a bill aimed at holding parents responsible if their young children commit crimes involving the discharge of a firearm.
The bill, introduced by State Representative Kim Banta, is intended to mirror laws already in place that hold parents responsible for property crimes and motor vehicle accidents carried out by their children. Current Kentucky laws hold parents liable for up to $2,500 in cases where their children deface property. Similarly, guardians who sign a child’s driver’s license application are “jointly and severally liable” for damages caused by the child while driving.
In an interview with Fox News, Banta clarified that she is not introducing this bill to deter individuals from purchasing and owning a firearm. Instead, the bill is intended to hold parents responsible for proper firearm ownership and storage.
“The most important thing is that I am absolutely not trying to stop gun sales or enact gun control,” she explained. “I’m simply trying to make parents aware that whether it is driving a car or doing anything else their child does, they need to know what they’re doing, and they need to exercise caution.”
The proposed legislation would assign responsibility for any “negligence or willful misconduct” by minors to their parents or guardians in cases where a firearm injury occurs. Factors to determine liability would include whether the parents allowed the child access to a firearm, knew of the child’s violent tendencies, or were aware of any prior firearm law violations.
Banta cited a recent Kentucky case to highlight the need for such a law. In the incident, several 15-year-olds had a dispute over drugs, leading one to retrieve a firearm and shoot two other teenagers
“A 15-year-old does not have the mental ability to make snap decisions that adults do; not in anger, not in routine life, so a gun in their possession unsupervised is a little different than an adult with a gun,” Banta said.
