The Kentucky Republican-majority state legislature will consider legislation that would hold parents accountable for gun crimes committed by their children.
Republican Rep. Kim Banta said her bill was modeled on legislation that holds parents and guardians responsible for crimes committed by minors while they are driving.
Parents are held liable for property defacement by their children for up to $2,500, and they are also responsible for any negligence or damages their children cause while driving.
Under Banta’s legislation, parents or guardians could face civil damages for injuries caused by their children from firing guns. Parents must have shown “negligence or willful misconduct” in their children’s gun crimes.
“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,” Banta told Fox News.
Banta said the top priority of this legislation is to curtail gun violence committed by children — not to restrict the gun rights of law-abiding citizens.
“The most important thing is that I am absolutely not trying to stop gun sales or enact gun control,” Banta said.
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It is already a felony in Kentucky for parents to provide their children access to guns recklessly, but this law mirrors in California that allow gun violence victims to sue parents or guardians for damages.
Michigan made history in April when a court ruled that the parents of school shooter Ethan Crumbley, 15, would be held criminally liable for their son’s crimes. His mother and father were both sentenced to at least 10 years in prison after their son killed four students at Oxford High School.
