Alabama House committee OKs bill requiring safe storage of firearms

A divided House Judiciary Committee Wednesday approved a bill that could subject parents who do not safely secure firearms to criminal penalties.

HB 414, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, passed on a voice vote out of the committee. With only five legislative days left in the 2024 session, its chances of passage appear slim; it needs at least three legislative days to get to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk.

“It is a bill about responsibility,” she said. “It doesn’t take away anyone’s Second Amendment rights, but it does make gun owners responsible, especially for those who are going on to school campuses.”

Alabama has one of the highest rates of firearm deaths in the nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the state’s firearm mortality rate was 26.4 per 100,000 people in 2021, trailing only Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico. The state recorded 1,315 deaths from firearms that year. New York State, with four times the population of Alabama, recorded 1,078 firearm deaths in 2021.

Why does Alabama have more gun deaths than New York?

Drummond introduced similar during the 2023 session. The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill, but it never came to a vote on the House floor.

Under the bill, gun owners would be required to secure their firearms so that children cannot have access to the gun, such as a trigger lock or a gun safe.

A parent or guardian whose child carried an unsecured firearm to school could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine.

The bill provides some exceptions to the rule, such as when children are hunting or participating in target shooting competitions.

The legislation also creates an exception for the parent if the child uses the firearm in self-defense.

Drummond preempted members of the committee who were concerned about the potential consequences for parents by informing them that any effort by parents to secure their firearms would likely satisfy the requirement in her bill.

There was little discussion on the measure but some committee members voted against the measure when it came time for a vote.

She said that she was talking to a talk show host who said that he used trigger locks on his firearms and asked Drummond if he could be violating the provisions in the bill.

“The answer is no because the child cannot use the weapon,” Drummond said.