Phoenix school board calls for safe storage law after student found with gun
A week after a student in Phoenix's Madison Elementary School District was found with a firearm on a school bus, the district's governing board called on state lawmakers to pass legislation regulating how guns are stored.
On the morning of April 1, an elementary school student was found in possession of a firearm on a bus to Madison Rose Lane Elementary School. The bus driver pulled over, secured the weapon and reported it to the school, Superintendent Kimberly Guerin said during Tuesday's board meeting, calling the driver a "hero."
Guerin also noted that there was recently an online threat against another school in the district.
The district's governing board unanimously passed a resolution that outlined plans to educate parents on securely storing guns and called on the Legislature to pass laws that carry criminal penalties for adults who allow guns to be accessed by children. Across the country, 26 states have enacted secure storage laws, according to the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.
Board member Sarah Speer said that after the bus incident, she heard from a number of parents who asked if criminal charges would be filed against the child's parents. "I had to answer 'no' because it is not against the law," she said.
"This is something that is common sense," Speer said.
Arizona's lack of safe storage laws "presents a danger to all children," the resolution states.
The resolution also directs Guerin to update the district's parent handbook to include information about the secure storage of firearms. The district will also communicate to parents "the importance of secure gun storage to protect minors from accessing irresponsibly stored guns" during back-to-school activities and work with local law enforcement agencies, health agencies and nonprofits to increase efforts to inform parents about secure firearm storage, according to the resolution.
"This is not about anyone's right to bear arms, but it's about all of our duty to take care of our children in the community," board member Christine Thompson said during the meeting.
Madison Elementary School District joins other Arizona districts that have adopted similar resolutions in recent years, including Phoenix Elementary School District, Phoenix Union High School District and Tucson Unified School District. However, the resolutions in those districts dealt only with educating district parents and did not advocate for laws at the state level.
Board member Scott Holcomb said the board is "very careful" only to address issues directly related to the school district. "Our role is not to go make policy statements," he said.
"Unfortunately, this falls, I think, directly within our purview," he said. "I think this falls squarely in the areas where we should make a comment."
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Reach the reporter at mparrish@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gun incident prompts Phoenix school board to call for safe storage law
