Arizona lawmakers oppose gun-safety rules for foster homes

• 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.

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.”

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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.

Besides, there is nothing in current policy that prevents a foster home from having guns on premises.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety allows guns in foster and group homes, but with rules for their storage. Broadly, those regulations require:

• The weapon to be kept unloaded.
• A trigger lock of some sort.
• Ammunition to be stored in an unbreakable, locked container that is tamper proof.

Those requirements are outlined in a training manual, complete with photos showing a properly locked weapon, and examples of what safe storage looks like.

But a majority of lawmakers on the committee said the DCS regulations fly in the face of another state law that forbids state agencies from making their own gun rules.

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Committee Chairman Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, said the rules are one-size-fits-all regulations that ignore individual circumstances.

"If I have a newborn that I'm fostering, how is that newborn going to get the gun?" he asked. The responsibility should rest with the foster parent, not DCS, to take reasonable steps on gun storage, he said.

The 5-4 vote highlighted the divide between those who argued the rules protect children and those who see them as an affront to gun rights.

Bahney DeDolph of the Arizona Council of Human Service Providers told lawmakers that foster parents are subject to stricter rules than biological parents because of the state's custodial responsibility. For example, medicines in foster homes must be kept in a locked location, she said. Ditto for cleaning supplies.

But there's a difference when it comes to guns, said Rep. David Stringer, R-Prescott.

“Cleaning materials don't involve constitutional rights," he said. "I believe this bill actually promotes child safety because homes where guns are available are safer than homes that aren’t."

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His comment drew groans from the handful of red-shirted members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

DCS was neutral on the bill. Kathryn Blades, who represents the agency, said DCS would be open to changes in its rules, but noted that if the bill passes, DCS would be unable to make any adjustments.

The bill now advances to the Rules Committee and then to a full vote of the 60-member House.

About this report

A three-year grant from the Arizona Community Foundation supports in-depth reporting at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com on child welfare and the state's children in foster care.

Are you part of the child-welfare system? We want to understand your story. Go to childwelfare.azcentral.com.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter @maryjpitzl.

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