Ohio family advocates for 'Amya's Law' after another child injured by unsecured gun

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The news that a 6-year-old girl is recovering after police said she accidentally shot herself with an unattended gun brought back trauma for Hope Frazier.

“I know what that mom's going through seeing her baby in a hospital bed,” Frazier said. “And it's really heartbreaking because we shouldn't see our children like that.”
 
Columbus police said the 6-year-old girl was critically injured Sunday afternoon after detectives said she accidentally shot herself with an unattended firearm inside a home near North Sixth Street in Weinland Park. 

For Frazier, the shooting is a painful reminder of what happened to her daughter, 11-year-old Amya Frazier, who was accidentally shot and killed last December.

“It does bring back trauma, and I'm not gonna lie, it makes me angry because it's just, it could have been preventable,” Frazier said.
Amya Frazier's mother and grandmother, Amy Conkey, are now channeling their grief into a push for legislation they hope will prevent another family from experiencing the same loss.

House Bill 901, known as Amya's Law for Child Access Prevention, would hold firearm owners accountable when a minor gains access to a negligently stored firearm and causes physical harm. The legislation was introduced in May and was referred to the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee, where it remains pending.

“My heart goes out to the family because no family should have to go through this,” Conkey said of the 6-year-old's shooting. “And, in my opinion, every adult should be responsible enough and smart enough to keep their guns locked, especially when a child is around. That's the whole purpose of Amya's Law.”

The bill's primary sponsor, state Rep. Darnell T. Brewer, D-Cleveland, said the latest shooting underscores why he believes Ohio needs to act.

“This is a huge problem,” Brewer said. “Anytime there's a loss of any child or critically hurt of any child due to unsafe storage of a gun, that's a call to action.”

The legislation would also include a tax credit to help offset the cost of certain firearm storage devices, according to the bill's sponsor and legislative summary.

Hope Frazier and Conkey said their goal is not to prevent people from owning guns.
 
“We're not trying to take nobody's rights away,” Conkey said. “It's OK to own a firearm, just be responsible enough to put it in a lockbox or to keep it up away from children.”

For Frazier, her daughter's death also changed the way she thinks about the future of other children injured or killed by gun violence.

“That little girl, she's six,” Frazier said of the child hospitalized after Sunday's shooting. “She's got her whole life ahead of her. She probably just started kindergarten.”

Conkey said every child lost represents a future that will never be known.

“Amya could have been the next president or the doctor who cured cancer or anything,” she said. “You never know.”

Amya Frazier's family remembers her not only as an 11-year-old whose life ended far too soon, but as a child who instinctively wanted to help others.

Hope Frazier recalled seeing her daughter notice another girl who did not have nice shoes.

“My kid took her Nikes off and gave them to her and was like, ‘Here, I got my shoes at home,’” Frazier said. “That's the type of kid Amya was. She would give you the shirt off her back.”

Now, Frazier and Conkey hope Amya's name can help protect other children.

“There never will be justice for Amya, but we just want it to help another family,” Conkey said.

She said the latest shooting is a reminder that when a child is injured by an unsecured firearm, the impact extends beyond the child.

“The poor baby, her poor mom, her family — everybody, not just her mom, her grandparents, her uncles, her aunts, her siblings — everybody who's involved in that family, now they have to deal with the grief every day,” Conkey said.

That is why, she said, the family plans to continue pushing lawmakers to pass Amya's Law.

“We need to get it done so that way no other family — this is why we started this — so no other family has to endure the pain and grief that we're going through,” Conkey said.
 
Nearly a year after Amya's death, her family said their grief remains present in their everyday lives.

“Amya's sisters still talk about her every day. They still remember. They still cry over her,” Conkey said. “It's been almost a year and the grief never will go away.”

Brewer said he plans to continue carrying the legislation and hopes it reaches the finish line in the next General Assembly.

For Amya Frazier's family, they're ready to see change.

“It's just unacceptable,” Conkey said, “and it doesn't have to happen if people would just lock their stuff up.”