Michigan School Shooting Demonstrates Consequences of Irresponsible Gun Ownership

The school shooting last week in Oxford, Michigan — the deadliest U.S. shooting at a K-12 campus since 2018 — has reignited discussions on the need for stronger child access prevention laws that could reduce the number of underage shooters with access to guns. The shooting and the charges brought against the parents of a student accused of murdering four high school classmates underline the deadly consequences when gun owners fail to properly secure their firearms.

Michigan, along with many other states, does not require the safe storage of firearms. To protect our children laws must create clear standards that can be used to hold irresponsible gun owners accountable.

Our hearts go out to the families who lost loved ones in this shooting and the survivors who bear scars both seen and unseen. Recklessness when it comes to basic gun safety is unacceptable, and when it enables a tragedy like the one we witnessed last week, accountability is not only warranted, it should be expected. The Oxford school shooting underscores the life-and-death responsibility that gun owners must accept when they choose to bring a firearm into their home. Unsecured guns are often stolen or taken without knowledge of the gun owner and fuel mass shootings, community violence and firearm suicides.

The parents charged in the Oxford case are an example of people who want the right to bear arms but not the responsibility that comes with it. We must…