ANNAPOLIS, MD — Holding people who don't store their gun safely accountable.
It's a response to numerous stories of children getting ahold of weapons and hurting people.
"If a five-year-old gets a gun, if a six-year-old gets a gun, there's an adult that's responsible more so than that child and that's where the accountability lies," said Senator Jill Carter.
For Senator Jill Carter, the bill stems from the death of Nykayla Strawder.
She was shot and killed by a nine-year-old who got ahold of his grandmothers gun.
Her family is in support of the bill.
"Losing the life of anyone, there's no law or bill that would replace that. This is a significant difference compared to what we have now," said Dr. Daniel Jarvis, Nykayla's uncle.
Senator Carter's bill ups the penalty from what is now a maximum five years in jail to 10 years and a possible $10,000 fine.
Senator Will Smith's bill known as Jaelynn's law sets guidelines for safe storage when someone under the age of 18 is unsupervised near the gun.
The guns have to be unloaded and locked away.
The bill is named after Jaelynn Willey who was killed in a school shooting by her ex boyfriend. He took the gun from his father.
"I've always had problems with bills like this and many bills are worse than this who want to penalize law abiding citizens who want to owns guns i mean it's part of the u.s. Constitution and as the supreme court held this spring we have to observe it," said Senator Chris West.
Despite his reluctance with the bills as is, Sentor West says he's in support of a potential amendment to Jaelynn's law that would give gun owners a tax credit for buying a proper gun safe.
Jaelynn's law didn't pass last year, but this is a new term which could change the bill's chances.
Senator Carter says there could be some tweaks to her bill to get it over the finish line.
