Law No. 7593 on Child Protection in Effect: Gun Negligence Carries Prison Time, Age Reduction May Be Removed for 15-18 Age Group

Law No. 7593, titled "Law on Amendment of the Child Protection Law and Certain Other Laws," was published in the Official Gazette and has entered into force. According to our reporting, the law amended multiple foundational pieces of legislation, including the Turkish Penal Code, Law No. 6136 on Firearms, the Child Protection Law, the Misdemeanors Law, and the Penal Code Execution Law.

With the most concrete regulation concerning firearm storage, a person who stores a firearm in violation of their duty of care and diligence, thereby allowing it to reach a child's hands, will be punished with imprisonment ranging from 1 to 3 years, provided the act does not constitute a more serious crime. This provision has been on the agenda for some time in controversial cases that created a gap in practice, since the previous law contained no explicit provision directly addressing this action.

The age reduction regulation in Article 31 of the Turkish Penal Code became the most debated change in judicial circles. For perpetrators in the 15-18 age group who commit intentional killing and aggravated assault resulting in injury; judges may refrain from applying the age reduction in cases where the severity of intent, the motive pursued, the manner in which the crime was committed, or prior convictions for intentional crimes are present. Similar discretionary authority was introduced for the 12-15 age group.

With the law, the terminology "child drawn into crime" in existing legislation was changed to "child in judicial process"; defense attorneys considered this terminological difference an important symbolic step.