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Proposed bill in memory of slain University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey ’will make people think twice before they loan their gun to someone else,’ lawmaker says

A newly elected Utah lawmaker announced proposed legislation for “Lauren’s Law” on Wednesday, which is meant to hold gun owners responsible for what people do with firearms they loan out or which otherwise negligently end up in the hands of someone else.

The legislation is named for 21-year-old University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey, who was shot to death Oct. 22 by Melvin Rowland, a man she’d briefly dated, said representative-elect Andrew Stoddard, D-Murray.

Rowland — a convicted felon prohibited from possessing a firearm — used a borrowed gun in the slaying. Campus police have said the lender did not know that, and that it is unlikely he will be charged.