Newly-proposed legislation looking to curb school violence would require parents in California to tell their children’s schools whether or not they own a gun.
“What the bill says is, when you register your kid for school, you have to notify the school that there’s a gun in your house and whether it’s adequately safely stored and whether your child has access to the gun,” the bill’s author, State Senator Anthony Portantino, told CBSLA.
If passed, parents would have to give their children’s schools an inventory of any firearms located in the household and would also authorize a backpack and locker search mandate if any threat of school violence is decided to be credible.
However, while it would allow for searches of any student belongings located on school grounds, it does not automatically grant a search warrant for students’ homes.
“It doesn’t search the home at all,” Portantino said. “It allows the search of property on campus, which school districts are already allowed to do. This just mandates them to do it when there is a credible threat.”
The bill has been met with mixed reaction from the community at-large, and Loyola law professor Jessica Levinson told CBSLA that it’s very likely the bill, if passed, will be subject to several legal challenges.
“There are challenges with respect to privacy rights,” she said. “You have to fill out a form that says I have a gun and here’s how it’s stored. There will be questions about enforcement. What if you don’t fill out that form? Will we say you can’t send your kid to school?”
Democrats in the state are hoping to pass the bill before year’s end.
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