GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On Wednesday, the House of Representatives will vote on the Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act, which was introduced by Rep. Elissa Slotkin following the Oxford High School shooting in November.
The act would amend the United States Code addressing gun storage and safety. It would require gun owners to safely store their firearm when it is not in use, unless being carried, if a minor would be able to access it.
If a gun is obtained by a minor and used to commit a crime or injure or kill a person, the gun owner can be fined and/or sentenced to prison time.
"The idea behind the bill is simple: if you’re a gun owner, like millions of Michiganders, you have to take reasonable steps to store your firearm," Slotkin wrote in a Tweet on Tuesday. "And if a minor gets ahold of that gun and uses it to commit a crime or hurt someone, you can be held criminally responsible."
The vote on this act comes less than two weeks after a 13-year-old Grand Rapids boy was accidentally shot and killed by another teen while playing with a gun. The teen has since been charged in this incident.
Slotkin also wrote that the day after the Uvalde school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, she was scheduled to speak at the Oxford virtual graduation. She said it was a "deeply emotional moment" for the Oxford community as they remembered the school shooting that impacted their own community.
To read the full act, click here.
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