"The California Legislature (Assembly Bill 452, Section 1, 2023) has found and declared:
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Guns 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.
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Data show 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.
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Over 80 percent of teens who have died by suicide used a firearm that belonged to someone in their home.
Assembly Bill 452—Pupil Safety: Parental Notification, Firearm Safety Laws
Section 48986 has been added to the California Education Code (EC) and requires that beginning on July 1, 2023, all kindergarten through grade twelve school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools shall annually inform parents and guardians of California’s child access prevention laws and laws relating to the safe storage of firearms at the beginning of the first semester or quarter of the regular school term. You will find Assembly Bill 452 on the California Legislative Information web page at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB452.
Senate Bill 906—School Safety: Homicide Threats
Sections 49390 through 49395 have been added to the EC. This bill seeks to address homicidal threats in middle and high schools and applies only to local educational agencies that serve pupils in any grades from six through twelve as part of a middle school or high school. Local educational agencies serving these pupils must include information about child access prevention laws and laws relating to the safe storage of firearms in the annual notifications to parents/guardians at the beginning of the first semester or quarter of the regular school term. The law states that school officials are required to report homicidal threats or perceived threats, as defined, to law enforcement, who must conduct an immediate investigation and threat assessment, as defined. You will find Senate Bill 906 on the California Legislative Information web page at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB906.
Parent/guardian annual notification that satisfies the model content requirement of Assembly Bill 452 and Senate Bill 906 is available in English and Spanish on the CDE Violence Prevention web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/vp/.
It is our collective responsibility to ensure that students, staff, families, and communities are as prepared and safe as possible. Thank you for your attention and commitment to school safety."