RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — State officials are trying to strengthen North Carolina’s gun storage laws to prevent children from having easy access. The Child Fatality Task Force met Wednesday to make their recommendations to lawmakers.
The task force is asking lawmakers to both change the language of the law and approve more funding to educate people on safe storage. Officials said it only takes a few seconds to safely store your gun and keep it out of a child’s hands.
“The time it takes you to lock up is the same to put a seatbelt on or put your child in a child safety seat,” said William Lassiter, the deputy secretary for the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for the Department of Public Safety. “Those few seconds can save you from a lifetime of tragedy.”
Right now, a gun owner can face charges if they live with a minor, do not store their gun properly and the child brings it to school, carelessly shows it, injures or kills someone or commits a crime. However, the current law only applies to someone living in the same place as a child. The task force wants to remove that language so the law will cover situations, like guns stored inside cars.
“We see that 60% of the firearms that were stolen last year were stolen from vehicles,” Lassiter said. “We want to change that language to make sure people weren’t getting off on a loophole.”
The task force is also recommending over $2 million in recurring funding for NC S.A.F.E., a campaign aimed at educating people about safe gun storage.
“We’ve given out, 60,000 gun locks,” Lassiter said. “People are really wanting these resources so they can actually do the right thing in their homes.”
More changes could be coming. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, gun owners in some states can face punishment for not properly storing their gun, even if a child never gets their hands on it. North Carolina has not taken that step yet.
“That’s not included in this proposal,” Lassiter said. “But I think that is something that is going to be looked at in the future to even enhance the safe storage law more than what we recommended today.”
The task force also discussed vaping in young people and funding for more school nurses, social workers, and counselors at Wednesday’s meeting. According to statistics presented by the task force, 1 in 10 middle school students say they have used vape products. That number goes up to 1 in 5 for high school students. The task force approved a recommendation to raise the age for sale of tobacco products in North Carolina from 18 to 21 to match the federal minimum wage.
These recommendations now go to the General Assembly, where members of the task force will work with lawmakers to get these recommendations into legislation.