February 8, 2018

Action Alert:
Tell Kentucky Legislator to Move Child Access Prevention Legislation


On February 6, 2018, Kentucky state House Judiciary Committee chairman Joe Fischer (R-Fort Thomas) told the Lexington Herald Leader that his committee has yet to act on a bill  that would make it a crime to leave loaded firearms unsecured around children, HB 31. because he “just don’t know anything about it.” Despite the fact that Kentucky’s legislative session began on January 2, Rep. Fischer told a reporter he has not even read the bill.

KY resident David Southwick posted this to FB two months before his twoiyear-old son found his gun and shot himself in the head. Regressive gun culture is a serious threat to children in the Bluegrass State.

The Herald Leader conducted an investigation and found that:

“From 2012 through June 2017 at least 36 Kentucky children accidentally shot themselves or another child. Those are just the shootings the [newspaper] can confirm using public records.  No government agency keeps numbers. 15 children died in those shootings. 21 children suffered injuries, some leading to permanent disabilities, such as brain damage. Most of the time, criminal charges were not filed against the people who failed to keep their loaded guns away from children.”

And yet Rep. Fischer can’t be bothered to read a Child Access Prevention bill that could prevent much of this suffering.

Please take a minute to contact Rep. Fischer through one of the channels below and give him the following message:

I was disturbed to read your comments to the Lexington Herald Leader about HB 31, a bill that would make it a misdemeanor crime for adults to leave loaded, unsecured guns around children. As the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, it is your JOB to read legislation under the committee’s purview and act on bills that are urgent in nature. Nothing is more urgent than preventing unnecessary gun deaths involving children. According to the Herald Leader, at least 36 Kentucky children shot themselves or another child with an unsecured firearm between 2012 and 2017. That is unacceptable, and it continues to happen because negligent adults face no criminal penalties for putting minors at risk in this manner. You can help change that, if you value kids’ lives over gun lobby largesse. I call on you to mark up HB 31 immediately, and get House Judiciary Committee members on the record in a vote to report the bill out to the full House.  I will be watching your actions closely.

Rep. Joe Fischer
Phone: (513) 794-6442
Email: Joe.Fischer@lrc.ky.gov
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KYHouseGOP

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