Tony Thurmond, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, advises that "there is an urgent need to ensure parent and guardian responsibility for safe storage of firearms and prevention of access to firearms. 

Two bills were legislated in response to the alarming increase in school shootings in California and throughout the United States, some of which are committed by children who have access to firearms and whose actions lead to injuries and death that could have been prevented. 

The California Legislature has found and declared the following:

• • Firearms are the third leading cause of death of children in America. Every day, eight children and teens are shot in instances of family fire, which is a shooting involving an improperly stored or misused gun found in the home resulting in injury or death.
  • Data shows that 75 percent of school shootings are facilitated by children having access to unsecured or unsupervised firearms at home. Eighty-seven percent of children know where their parents’ firearms are stored and 60 percent report that they have handled them.
  • Over 80 percent of teens who have died by suicide used a firearm that belonged to someone in their home.
  • Data suggests that 93 percent of school shooters planned their attacks in advance and exhibited concerning behavior and communications."

Two new laws, Assembly Bill (AB) 452 and Senate Bill (SB) 906 address student, school, and firearm safety. Schools are required to provide an annual notification regarding safe storage of firearms.