Missouri Bill Requires Parents to Register Firearms With Their Local School

State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal says it's time for gun legislation to get real.

She says kids need to be kept away from guns owned by their family and schools need to know when kids might be armed.

The Senator from University City sponsors a bill that makes it a crime to improperly store firearms and mandates parents let their children's schools know when there are guns in their house.

"And I want to let you know that it's time that we finally address what is going on in our urban core."

Chapelle-Nadal says her bill is not about controlling guns, it's about controlling their handling. She says many times in her community, young people take guns in burglaries or take them from their parents and use them to commit crimes.

"I wholly agree with the second amendment, that everyone has the right to bear arms. But the second amendment does not say that a 12-year-old can shoot a 12-year-old. There's no protection for that."

She says she wants the violence in schools to stop and this is just one different idea that no one has brought up.

"It encourages parents to make sure they store their guns safely in their home, it also gives the school districts the opportunity to help encourage gun safety in the community and in the household," says the Senator.

"I agree with it," says parent Danaelle Stidum. "We need to know because a lot of parents aren't governing their homes properly."

Some parents say the bill doesn't focus the attention on the parents that need to be focused on.

"It concerns me a bit because I think the parents that would have no problem registering the guns aren't the ones you have to worry about, I think it's the ones who don't or who are obtained by the students without their parents knowledge that's the concern," says parent Bill Koster.

The principal of Brentwood High School says the information may help the police more than the school district and what about blaming a parent for guns in their house they don't even know about?

"Maybe a student obtaining a weapon without the parent even knowing about it," says Principal Don Rugraff.

"I understand what they are trying to do, but making us notify them if we have guns is not going to deter the behavior what makes people do what they do with guns," says parent Kris Mills.

This proposal is one of only a handful in Missouri's House and Senate.