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The Kentucky Legislature is poised to consider a bill in the new year that would make parents responsible for their minor children committing a child-related crime. discharge of a firearm.
State Rep. Kim Banta, R-Erlanger, modeled her legislation on similar laws that hold parents responsible for property crimes and motor vehicle accidents.
In the Bluegrass State, parents are liable for up to $2,500 in cases where their children destroy property and the guardian who signed a minor’s driver’s license application is “jointly liable” of any finding of negligence or damage to the steering wheel.
“The most important thing is that I’m not trying to stop gun sales or enact gun control,” Banta told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday.
BIDEN TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER TO REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE
A sign on US-460 exiting Virginia greets drivers near Mouthcard, Kentucky in 2017 (Charles Creitz)
“I’m just trying to make parents aware that whether it’s driving a car or doing anything else their child does, they need to know what they’re doing and they need to be careful.”
Similar to the language of the car accident statute, Banta’s bill imputes a minor’s “negligence or willful misconduct” to his parent/guardian for civil damages resulting from injury to another person caused. by a person with a gun.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, factors in determining parental responsibility include whether the parent allowed the child to have the gun, was aware of previous gun law violations or believed the child had the propensity to be violent
On Friday, Banta said there had been a recent case in Kentucky where several 15-year-olds got into a dispute, allegedly over drugs, and one boy went home, retrieved a gun and returned and shot the two other young people.
Police converge on the scene of a shooting in Brooklyn, New York (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“A 15-year-old doesn’t have the mental capacity to make quick decisions that adults do—not in anger, not in routine life, so a gun in his possession without supervision is a little different than an adult with a gun,” she he said
Adoptive parents, however, would be exempt from the law, according to NPR affiliate Murray State University.
The bill will be introduced in January, and Banta said if it goes to a committee vote, there’s a high chance it will go to a full vote and be sent to Gov. Andrew Beshear’s desk.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Beshear for comment, but did not hear back by press time.
Both legislative chambers in Frankfort are occupied by Republican majorities, while Beshear is a Democrat.
