Pupil safety: notifications: firearms

The notice is intended to help prevent children and teens from accessing unsecured guns, including for suicide or bringing guns to school.

What the law does ​

• Requires school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to send each enrolled pupil’s parent or guardian an annual written “Secure Firearm Storage Notification” at the start of the school year or term.
• Requires the notice to explain risks of unsecured firearms, secure-storage resources, state child-access and firearm-storage laws, and the Department of Justice’s certified firearm-safety-device roster.
• Requires the California Department of Education to develop and post model notice language by July 1, 2027, update it as needed annually beginning July 1, 2028, and provide online posting and communications options.
• Adds distribution of the notification to state best practices for notices sent before school shooter or armed-assailant drills.
• Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s school-counselor suicide-prevention notice to include the model notification as an example of information for families on reducing access to lethal means.
• Provides civil-liability immunity to schools and the department that use the department’s model language.

Who it affects ​

• Parents and guardians of pupils enrolled in public school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools.
• School districts, county offices of education, charter schools, private schools that request the model language, and school counselors.
• The California Department of Education, Department of Justice, and Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Context ​

Local educational agencies are encouraged, rather than required, to share the notice through websites, social media, and other communications.

Breakdown ​

Secure Firearm Storage Notices ​

The bill replaces the existing annual firearm-safety notice with a “Secure Firearm Storage Notification” for the parent or guardian of every enrolled pupil. The notice must explain the risks of children accessing unsecured guns and summarize California’s firearm storage and child access prevention laws. It also requires the State Department of Education to publish model notice language and online communication options by July 1, 2027, and encourages schools to provide the notice when addressing threats or self-harm concerns.

Key takeaways

• Schools, county education offices, and charter schools must notify the parent or guardian of each enrolled pupil about the importance of securely storing firearms in any home where firearms are present.
• The required notification must describe the risks that children may access unsecured firearms and explain California’s child access prevention and firearm storage laws.
• Beginning July 1, 2027, the State Department of Education must post model notification language on its website.
• By July 1, 2027, the department must provide options for schools to post the notification and related secure-storage resources online.
• The department must encourage local educational agencies to provide the notification when they communicate about disciplinary actions or supports involving threats to other pupils or threats of self-harm.
• The bill adds duties for local educational agencies, creating a state-mandated local program.

Firearm Storage Notice in Drill Communications ​

The bill adds a firearm-storage notice to the state’s recommended practices for school shooter and armed assailant drills. When schools send the specified drill notice to parents and guardians, the best practices must call for including the department’s Secure Firearm Storage Notification. The best practices must also recommend posting that notice on the local educational agency’s website.

Key takeaways

• The state’s drill best practices must include distributing the department’s Secure Firearm Storage Notification with the specified notice about school shooter or armed assailant drills.
• The notification is to be provided to parents and guardians of pupils as part of the specified drill-related communication.
• The best practices must recommend that school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools post the notification on their websites.
• The bill changes the content of the state’s best practices rather than making compliance with those practices mandatory.

Counselor Notice on Firearm Storage ​

The bill expands the state notice about suicide prevention training for school counselors. The notice must now include the department’s Secure Firearm Storage Notification model content as an example of information counselors can give families about reducing access to lethal means.

Key takeaways

• The Superintendent’s notice to middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools must include the Secure Firearm Storage Notification model content published by the department.
• The model content is included as an example of information a school counselor may provide to a pupil’s family.
• The added information concerns reducing a pupil’s access to lethal means.
• The change is added to the existing notice that encourages suicide prevention training for school counselors.

Conditional Coordination With SB 685 ​

This part coordinates AB 1943 with SB 685 if both bills become law. It would make AB 1943's additional changes to Education Code Section 48986 take effect only if AB 1943 is signed after SB 685.

Key takeaways

• The bill includes additional changes to Education Code Section 48986.
• Those additional changes apply only if both AB 1943 and SB 685 are enacted.
• AB 1943 must be enacted after SB 685 for these coordinated changes to take effect.