Sen. McDonald Rivet's first standalone bill ensures child protection

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Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (front row, maroon blazer) stands beside Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other legislators after the signing of her first standalone bill ensuring child access protection from firearms.

Michigan Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet represents the 35th Senate District, which includes parts of Bay, Midland, and Saginaw counties.

The Michigan Senate sent the final part of the gun safety package to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday, establishing a "red flag" law in the state almost a week after passing laws expanding background checks and safe storage requirements.

Included in the bills signed on April 13 is Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet's (D-Bay City) first standalone bill - Public Act 16. This bill updates the state's criminal code for safe storage of firearms for child access protection.

"Children are dying at very high rates," McDonald Rivet said. "Many of those kids of dying from accidental deaths...I wanted my name to go on something that is going to make a difference in children's lives."

The penalties on individuals who fail to follow the new safe storage requirements vary based on whether a minor does indeed obtain the firearm and whether it is used in a reckless manner inflicting injury or death.

This legislation amends the sentencing guidelines to include the new felony penalties created by Senate Bill 79, sponsored by Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-West Bloomfield):

• If a firearm isn't safely stored or locked and a minor obtains it, the individual responsible may face up to 93 days in jail and/or a $500 fine. • If a minor injures themselves or someone else with the unsecured gun, the individual responsible could face five years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine. • If a minor obtains the gun and "inflicts serious impairment of a body function" upon themselves or another, the individual responsible faces 10 years in prison and/or a $7,500 fine. • If a minor obtains the firearm and kills someone or themselves, the individual responsible for failing to safely secure the firearm could face up to 15 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

There are exemptions for minors who obtain a gun with a parent or guardian's permission and use it under the supervision of someone over the age 18 for ranching, farming, hunting or target practice.

McDonald Rivet said the bill is meaningful to her for a number of reasons. As a "mom inside the Senate" she knew that safe storage around children is important to moms, just as it's important to her.

"My father owned guns, my husband owns guns," she said. "But they are locked, the ammunition is kept separately from the weapon, I never knew where the key to the gun safe was as a child and the same for my husband's weapons."

On a more personal level, she noted that her sister, Karen McDonald, is the prosecutor of Oakland County, where the parents of Ethan Crumbley are standing trial for their alleged role in the November 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School to which their son pleaded guilty.

"The fact that my bill will make her job easier and other prosecutors' jobs easier if, God forbid, any of this happens again, is meaningful," she said. "I have seen in my family firsthand what happens when we tie the hands of prosecutors."

McDonald Rivet emphasized that the bills do not strip Second Amendment rights, but rather they ensure that gun owners are being responsible.

"It doesn't say you can't own a gun, it just says you need to understand that it is a weapon designed to kill," she said. "With that right comes responsibility, and we see that across the board. The same reason you can't shout 'Fire!' in a crowded theater. You have a right to free speech, but that can't get to a point that it is infringing on someone else's rights and causing the death of other people. To me, safe storage is the same principle."

The senator has stated before that she is pro-Second Amendment and grew up in a household with gun owners. While she said she can't speak to what storage practices were like when she was younger, she said the necessity for these gun laws is "overwhelming" right now.

"We've reached a point in this country where children are dying at an alarming rate," she said. "That was not true when I was little. It is an easy thing to do...even in places like Florida, safe storage is the law."

Another package of bills in the legislature right now focuses on mental health support and school safety instead of gun legislation. McDonald Rivet said that she supports the package as she believes there should be better access for mental health support in schools.

"It's not one or the other, it is both," she said. "We are almost to 200 mass shootings in this country and it's April. And we are still having the same debate about whether it is one thing or the other when we know, at this level of crisis, it requires a multi-faceted approach...What you can't put a political spin on is the data showing the accelerating number of deaths as a result of gun violence."