North Carolina gun laws would strengthen under a push by Child Fatality Task Force

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North Carolina’s Child Fatality Task Force met with lawmakers Wednesday to suggest ways North Carolina gun storage laws can be strengthened.

The initiative is asking for a change in the way laws written on the subject are worded and to request more funding to go to the education of how people safely store guns.

“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.”

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US-64 enters North Carolina from Tennessee near Hothouse, as a sign denotes the long drive across the state to the Outer Banks. (Charlie Creitz)

Currently, firearms are one of the top causes of death for children in the state. The state also ranks 12th in the U.S. for young lives lost to gun violence.

“Recommendations from the Task Force for 2024 reflect a continued focus on the importance of firearm safe storage through seeking sustained funding for the NC S.A.F.E. firearm safety campaign and the newly created NC Office of Violence Prevention, as well as an effort to strengthen the state’s child access prevention law,” said their most recent report from the Child Fatality Task Force.  

“Other 2024 recommendations continue the Task Force’s work on suicide prevention and the youth mental health crisis by seeking sustained funding for more school nurses, social workers, counselors, and psychologists and through endorsing legislation that targets addictive social media algorithms that harm kids.”

Lawmakers are also asking for changes in how adults are charged when children gain access to guns when it leads to bodily harm or death. 

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Weapons classified as assault-style rifles in Illinois, which are displayed here, are now banned for sale in the state of Illinois.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Currently, North Carolina laws say that only gun owners who live in a home with children can be held responsible for not safely storing their guns. A vote on Wednesday recommended changing that by removing the residency requirement. This will make all gun owners liable for the safe storage of their guns.

They are also suggesting a recurring budget of more than $2 million in funding for NC S.A.F.E., a campaign that is aimed at educating people about safe gun storage.

A recent Wall Street Journal report stated that Democratic voters are the “most surprising” new group of gun owners in America. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“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.”

All items discussed at the assembly will now go to the General Assembly and members of the task force will work alongside lawmakers to get them into legislation.