Rep. Slotkin to introduce bill to require safe storage of firearms after Oxford shooting

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, plans to introduce federal legislation Wednesday that would require gun owners to safely secure firearms following the deadly shooting at Oxford High School.

Anyone who fails to properly store their firearms faces up to five years in prison if a child uses as a weapon to injure themselves or commit a crime.

The 15-year-old Oxford shooter used a handgun that was left unsecured in his parents’ bedroom. The parents have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

“I’m introducing this bill because of the destructive role the parents of the killer had on the lives of four teenagers at Oxford High School, and thousands more in the community,” Slotkin said in a statement. “At church services, vigils and funerals, and visits with parents, teachers, and law enforcement, everyone’s priority is to keep our kids safe — and it’s clear there’s a gap in law that makes it hard to hold parents accountable for aiding their child in committing a crime with a gun.”

The shooting killed four teenagers and injured seven.

Slotkin cited data from the nonprofit advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety that compiled 2,070 unintentional shootings by children between 2015 and 2020. Seventeen of those shootings were in Michigan this year, and seven were fatal.

“The goal is to prevent another American town from experiencing the devastation we’ve felt in Oxford over the last two weeks,” Slotkin said in a statement.

Democrats in the state Legislature introduced a bill last week that would limit the capacity of ammunition magazines.

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