Parents should be automatic accomplices if a weapon they own is used by their child if there was no forced entry to the gun safe, because they clearly didn't secure it from the child properly.
My sister used to watch over my mother’s shoulder as she entered the combination to her medication safe (cancer pain meds). Kids are sneaky and you have to be way, way more careful than you expect.
No, you have to be not stupid and realize they are sneaky little fuckers.
It's not like most gun safes are just sitting out in the kitchen or living room, especially in a household with kids. So kick them out of your bedroom and close the door while you're retrieving the firearms so they can't see the combination.
Also biometric safes are pretty common these days, then you can keep the backup physical key in a safe deposit box at the bank or even with a friend.
They should make a device that detects when a safe or case is opened and sends alerts to your phone. Honesty seems easy as heck could be a college level project to design something you could retrofit on safes. Then theres no way anyone properly storing weapons could claim they didn't know.
If you are paranoid you can literally just take one of those Ring indoor cameras and put it on top of your safe. The app includes custom notifications on detected motion.
Now, the kid could still go out of their way to disable the home WiFi or something but that level of premeditation is a different problem entirely.
First preference would be educating your kids on the safe handling of guns from an early age and inculcating in them a set of values that shows guns are for defensive purposes and not for interpersonal conflict resolution.
The secondary strategy is storing your firearms in a locked safe the kids do not know the combination to, in a locked room to which they don't have a key.
All the laws in the world are useless if they're not enfoeced. We saw it in the Maine shooting, we're seeing it here now, we see it even in the presidential election.
"Minors are permitted to possess pistols or revolvers under certain specified and monitored activities and there are provisions against a parent or legal guardian allowing a minor to possess a pistol or revolver if the adult "is aware of a substantial risk that such minor will use a pistol or revolver to commit a felony offense" or if the minor has been convicted of a violent felony or misdemeanor. Violation can mean a felony conviction, a fine of up to $5,000 and 3-5 years in prison."
I would say, having an FBI investigation into a school shooting threat last year would constitute "substantial risk".
But that's also assuming it was an AR pistol and not an AR rifle. So far they're just saying "AR platform" which could mean anything.
Wadsworth: [shouting] That's what we're trying to find out! We're trying to find out who killed him, and where, and with what!
Professor Plum: There's no need to shout!
Wadsworth: [shouting louder] I'm not shouting!
[Guests stare at him pointedly]
Wadsworth: [shouting] All right, I am! I'm shouting, I'm shouting, I'm shout...
[candlestick falls from above and hits him on the head]