LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The father of a Georgia teen who police say killed four and injured nine others was arrested on Thursday. This arrest is raising questions about laws surrounding children's access to gun across the country.
What does Kentucky law say?
There is no minimum age to own to a gun in Kentucky, according to the law. However, many federally licensed gun sellers will not sell to anyone under 18.
Kentucky does prohibit any person under age 18 from possessing, manufacturing or transporting a handgun, unless they are:
- In attendance at a hunter’s safety course or a firearms safety course;
- Practicing in the use of a firearm or target shooting at an established firing range, or any other place where the discharge of firearms is not prohibited;
- Engaging in an organized competition involving the use of a firearm, or participating in or practicing for a performance by a non-profit group that uses firearms as a part of the performance;
- Hunting or trapping pursuant to a valid license issued pursuant to Kentucky statutes or administrative regulations;
- Traveling to or from any activity described above with an unloaded handgun;
- On real property which is under the control of an adult and has the permission of that adult and his or her parent or legal guardian to possess a handgun; or
- At his or her residence and in the possession of a handgun with the permission of his or her parent or legal guardian and justified in using physical force or deadly physical force.
Parents also may not be charged if their child hurts themself or others using a gun.
In Kentucky, there is no law imposing a penalty on someone who fails to secure an unattended firearm and leaves it accessible to an unsupervised minor, according to Giffords Law Center.
However, Kentucky law does prohibits any person from "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly providing a handgun to a person under age 18 or permitting a person under age 18 to possess a handgun."
Also, the state prohibits any parent or guardian from giving their child a gun if they:
- Know there is a substantial risk the child will use a handgun to commit a felony offense;
- Knows the child has been convicted of a crime of violence; or
- Knows child has been adjudicated a public offender of an offense which would constitute a crime of violence.
The state also has no law that requires unattended firearms to be stored a certain way.
Kentucky does not require a locking device to accompany the sale of a firearm, and no state statutes require firearm owners to affirmatively lock their weapons.
You can learn more about state gun laws on the Gifford Law Center website.
In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Georgia, the father of the 14-year-old suspect was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting. He was charged with counts of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said.
It’s the latest example of prosecutors holding parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings.
In April, Michigan parents Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting. They were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for not securing a firearm at home and acting indifferently to signs of their son’s deteriorating mental health before he killed four students in 2021.
