Lawmaker wants to change child endangerment statutes

State Representative Stacey Newman along with Saint Louis and Kansas City prosecutors are presenting legislation that would allow those involved in negligent shooting where a child is hurt to be prosecuted.

The bill, if it becomes law, would add a line into the current child endangerment statutes. The line would read, if a person “knowingly fails to secure a readily available, loaded deadly weapon in the presence of a child less than 17 years of age” they could be found endangering the child.

The term “secure” in this added line would mean a deadly weapon with a functioning lock, housed in a safe or unloaded of ammunition.

The bill, HB2500,is being formally presented Monday at 5 p.m. at the Carnahan Courthouse in Saint Louis.

Missouri was the leading state in the country in 2015 with five toddlers who shot themselves or others.

To date in 2016, 13children under the age of 11 years old have been “accidentally” shot throughout the country.