Following last week’s school shooting in Florida, California Senator Henry Stern has introduced the Juvenile Gun Safety Act with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. The act, if passed, will close a loophole in the state’s law that allows “individuals who have committed violent offenses as minors to escape prosecution” for owning or possessing a firearm illegally.
Under the act, a juvenile will not be able to possess a gun, even if the individual has completed probation.
“People with violent criminal records should not be able to own or possess guns. We need to close the gaps in our background check systems so that, at a bare minimum, minors who commit serious crimes cannot turn around and possess guns once they successfully complete probation,” Stern wrote in an emailed statement.
Even if records for a juvenile have been sealed, passing the act will ensure that prosecutors have access to enforce gun safety checks.