Rep. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, Arizona lawmakers oppose gun-safety rules for foster homes

[riversedge]

I just want to scream!!




Steph H.🌊? @StephH_AZ

While we were watching the horror of the #ParklandShooting unfold, #AZLeg House Judiciary Comm's GOP members passed HB2535, @kevinpayneLD21's bill that'd PROHIBIT all child welfare agencies from adopting or enforcing any rule or policy related to possession or storage of a gun.

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Arizona lawmakers oppose gun-safety rules for foster homes


https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2018/02/15/arizona-foster-homes-gun-rights-bill/335312002/
Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic | azcentral.com Published 6:00 a.m. MT Feb. 15, 2018 | Updated 10:48 a.m. MT Feb. 15, 2018

Arizona’s child-welfare agency says to call the child-abuse hotline if you reasonably believe that a child has been “abused, neglected, exploited or abandoned.” Wochit
Arizona Department of Child Safety

(Photo: David Wallace/The Republic)
Story Highlights

Bill would bar DCS from imposing firearms-storage rules on foster homes
Currently, DCS requires foster homes to store guns unloaded, with a trigger lock.

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Foster-care parents would not have to adhere to the gun-safety requirements of the state Department of Child Safety under a bill that won approval from a House panel Wednesday night.

Call it a valentine to gun rights, passed late Wednesday as the state was marking its 106th birthday.

Supporters, such as bill sponsor Rep. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, portrayed House Bill 2535 as putting foster parents on the same Second Amendment footing as biological parents.

“Foster parents are just like any other parents in Arizona," Payne told members of the House Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. "They should have Second Amendment rights like any other parents.”


The bill drew the support of gun-rights groups such as the National Rifle Association and the Citizens Defense League, as well as scores of citizens who indicated their support on the Legislature's electronic sign-in system.

But child-safety advocates, as well as gun-safety supporters, said the bill heightens the risk to foster children and could increase the agency's — and the state's — liability if any harm were to occur because of a firearms-related incident......................

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Steph H.
🌊
? @StephH_AZ
38m38 minutes ago

Because we know that, during the first six months of 2017, for example, minors died from accidental shootings at a pace of one every other day, with the majority of the shootings occurring in the home.

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[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. Can't say what I'm thinking.

[OhioBlue]

2. Foster parents are not like all other parents in AZ

Correct me if I am wrong, but if a child is placed in foster care, that child is a ward of the State unless and until returned to biological parents or adopted?

So, as wards of the State, it is incumbent upon the State to make sure that the children are placed in a safe environment, which means a household that if they own guns, is responsible with them and keeps them in a manner that children cannot access.

The extreme jump to assume this is infringing on 2a rights of foster parents is ridiculous.... It is not the job of child welfare advocates nor of Children's services to debate 2a rights of adult foster parents, but rather to ensure the safety and well being of the CHILDREN!

Edit to Add: As a parent, it is also our right not to let our children go to the house of a friend or babysitter that isn't responsible with firearms. It isn't an infringement upon those adults, it is about the protection of our children. If adults are not responsible, DCS shouldn't place children with them.