With Oct. 1 approaching, only 50% of Michigan school districts had reported distributing safe-firearm-storage information required under the Safe Homes, Safe Schools law.
A gun discharged inside a third-grader's backpack at Ann J. Kellogg Elementary School in Battle Creek on Sept. 22. No one was injured. Three-year-old Michael McClendon died in Pontiac on Sept. 16.
The incidents came as Michigan school districts faced an Oct. 1 deadline for annual safe-firearm-storage information. Only half had complied by Sept. 1, according to Sherri Masson of Statewide Indivisible Michigan.
Deadline applies every school year
Rep. Sharon MacDonell, D-Troy, sponsored the Safe Homes, Safe Schools law. She said districts must give state-approved safe-firearm-storage information to parents or guardians before Oct. 1 of each school year. Districts must also post the information on their websites.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the requirement into law in January 2025. It applies to private schools, too.
Masson said 50% of Michigan school districts were complying with the law as of Sept. 1. Statewide Indivisible Michigan plans to issue a report card after the Oct. 1 deadline. The group urged districts that have not acted to distribute the information now.
MacDonell has called the requirement an annual duty. It is not a one-time notice.
That matters.
For families in Farmington and Farmington Hills, the local school system and its board communications are the main points of contact. City government is not responsible for the district notice. The Farmington Public Schools website is the district's public information portal. Families can check it for notices and confirm with the board or administration whether the required material has been posted or distributed.
The law concerns information, but the danger involves physical access to unsecured firearms in homes where children live or visit. Deleah Sharp founded the Pontiac gun-violence-prevention organization Identify Your Dream. She said warnings about gun dangers do not remove a child's curiosity or stop a child from searching for a firearm.
Sharp directed her message at adults who are responsible for securing firearms and making homes safer.
Michigan's broader safe-storage law generally requires a firearm to be locked and unloaded when an owner knows or reasonably should expect that a minor will be present. The firearm can also be secured with a locking device or kept in a locked container.
Guidance discussed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says violations can carry criminal consequences. More serious penalties may apply when a child gains access to a firearm and uses it.
MacDonell said firearm deaths are the leading cause of death for children. She described prevention as a shared responsibility for families, school leaders and communities.
Schools do not supervise firearm storage inside homes. They do have to make safety information available to families before the October deadline.
Recent incidents sharpen the warning
Sharp referred to McClendon's death while urging adults who keep firearms in their homes to secure them. She said the campaign was not meant to shame the child's grieving family or politicize the death. Its purpose was to prevent another family from facing the same loss.
Local reports said the Oakland County prosecutor charged McClendon's parents under Michigan's safe-storage provision. The charge concerns a minor's access to a firearm resulting in death. Reports also said four other children were in the home.
The allegations and charges remain matters for the criminal courts.
The Battle Creek incident had a different outcome. The storage concern was the same. A firearm discharged accidentally inside a third-grader's backpack at Ann J. Kellogg Elementary School. The school went into an immediate lockdown, but no one was hurt.
Police said they intended to send investigative materials to the Calhoun County prosecutor for consideration of possible charges.
Battle Creek officials and the school later told families that weapon-detection systems would be installed at Ann J. Kellogg entrances. That plan addresses screening at the school building. The state storage law addresses how firearms are secured in homes and other places where children may be present.
Those incidents do not establish that a school district failed to distribute information in either case. They do show why the annual requirement reaches homes and families as well as school buildings.
The information is meant to reach adults before a child encounters a firearm without effective safeguards.
Some districts add practical steps
Some schools are doing more than the law requires, Masson said. Sharp pointed to Detroit programs that make gun locks available. She also cited a Jackson program that requires parents to sign an acknowledgment about safe firearm storage.
These programs go beyond sending information. A lock program gives families a physical safety device. A signed acknowledgment creates a documented contact between parents and the school.
The available reporting does not establish how many families have used either program. The examples do show that districts and communities can choose different ways to reinforce the state requirement.
Local governments can help with public communication, but schools hold the statutory duty. The City of Farmington and the City of Farmington Hills can direct residents to county and state safety resources. Oakland County administration and local public-safety agencies may provide information about prevention programs and community services.
Those municipal roles do not replace a district's required annual notice.
School compliance is one of several operational demands facing Michigan districts. An earlier school analysis examined another statewide challenge affecting students and families. This issue is narrower, but its deadline is closer and the required action is set by law.
Support extends beyond one party
Skye Thietten, a safe-firearm-storage community educator for End Gun Violence Michigan, said continued work can reduce firearm incidents and deaths involving children over time. Ryan Bates, the organization's executive director, said support for safe-storage education and related safety reforms crosses party lines.
Bates cited polling. He said 70% of Michigan voters support safe storage, universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders, also known as a red-flag law.
He also said a majority of gun owners support those laws. According to Bates, 23% of Michigan voters want them repealed.
The available reporting does not identify the poll or its methodology. Those figures are best understood as Bates' description of the polling, not as an independently verified measure presented here.
The immediate test is whether every Michigan school district distributes the required information before Oct. 1. Half-compliance is not an acceptable finish line for a law built around prevention.
Districts that have not acted should meet the requirement. Districts already complying can consider the practical steps used in Detroit and Jackson. Information has its full value only when adults can use it to secure firearms before a child finds one.
