With routines disrupted due to summer plans, kids may find themselves spending more time in homes with guns. As such, July is the perfect month to begin conversations with the gun owners in your life, discussing the steps they can take to increase gun safety within their home. Today we will focus on one very effective solution: safe storage.
To begin, what is safe storage really?
Per the American Academy of Pediatrics, safe storage means all guns are stored (when not in use) in a locked gun safe, cabinet or case, locked in a gun rack or stored with a trigger or cable lock. Ammunition should be locked in a separate location.
To understand the gravity of the situation, consider these facts
In 2020, 2,281 children under age 18 were killed by firearms, and of these deaths, 721 (31.6 percent) were classified as suicide and 121 (5.3 percent) were classified as unintentional (calculated using data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2022b).
A recent national survey estimated that 30 million children in the United States live in households with firearms (Miller and Azrael, 2022).
Although multiple studies have found that living in a household with a child under the age of 18 is associated with higher rates of secure firearm storage (Berrigan et al., 2019; Crifasi et al., 2018a; Salhi, Azrael, and Miller, 2021), a 2021 national survey indicated that in nearly half of households with both firearms and children, guns are stored unlocked; in an estimated 15 percent of these homes, guns are stored loaded and unlocked (Miller and Azrael, 2022; see also Berrigan et al., 2019).
Most unintentional shooting victims are boys, often shot by a friend or relative, especially a brother.
Nearly 40% of unintentional shooting deaths among children aged 11-14 occur in the home of a friend.
Adolescents are at higher risk for suicide when a gun is present in the home.
It's clear that the presence and accessibility of firearms in our homes have profound impacts on our childrens’ safety. This is one of the reasons we created the W/S STRONG Rules of Firearm Safety. These rules, developed in collaboration with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, focus on the responsible handling and safe storage of firearms. With more children at home during the summer, this training couldn’t be more relevant.
We can strive to educate children about gun safety, but ultimately the responsibility lies with us, the gun owners. Despite our best intentions, studies show children may not always react safely when encountering a firearm. Therefore, the best line of defense remains safe storage and limited accessibility of firearms. According to a recently published JAMA Pediatrics study, if 20% more gun owners safely stored, up to a third of youth accidents and suicides could be avoided.