Parents of teen shooting victims push for firearms storage legislation

ATLANTA – Georgia lawmakers should enact safe firearm storage legislation to reduce an epidemic of gun violence most dramatically illustrated by last month’s school shooting in Barrow County, two parents of teens killed by guns said.

“It is a pain that never goes away,” said Julvonnia McDowell, whose14-year-old son JaJuan was shot and killed in 2016 by another teen playing with an unsecured firearm while visiting family in Savannah. “That’s why I advocate for secure storage laws. Our children deserve in a world free of gun violence.”

“We want securing your firearm to be as instinctive as securing your children in a car seat,” added Kristin Song, whose 15-year-old son Ethan was accidentally shot and killed in 2018 by an unsecured gun at a neighbor’s house in Connecticut.

His death spurred Ethan’s Law, legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate that would require gun owners to safely and securely store their firearms.

“Georgia failed those killed in the recent high school shooting,” Song told members of a state Senate study committee. “But you have the power to change that.”

The study committee was formed after two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School near Winder were shot and killed early last month. Another student was charged in the murders, and his father faces charges for allegedly allowing his son to possess the weapon.

Song testified that 76% of school shooters used unsecured firearms they obtained at home. Most youth suicides and unintentional shootings also are carried out with unsecured firearms, she said.

Twenty-six states have child-access prevention laws that allow prosecutors to bring charges against adults who intentionally or carelessly allow children to have unsupervised access to firearms, Kathy Martinez-Prather, director of the Texas School Safety Center, said.

Texas lawmakers passed a bill following the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, with an education component that requires school districts to inform parents of safe storage policies.

“Schools can play an effective role in helping reduce gun violence,” she said.

Committee members acknowledged that crafting safe firearms storage legislation without curbing Second Amendment rights is a challenge. But Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, the committee’s chairman, said it can be done.

“This is not about taking anyone’s gun,” he said. “It’s about trying to protect our kids against senseless gun violence.”

The meeting was the last for the study committee. Jones said he expects the panel will come up with safe firearms storage legislation for the full Senate to consider during the next General Assembly session starting in January.

Metro Creative