By Jessica Feagin | UAB Community Health & Human Services Intern
Many incidences have occurred where young children accidentally shoot themselves with a gun, even in their homes. It breaks my heart how kids are being put in these situations that could have easily been prevented. It is our job as adults to protect our youth. Children are impulsive and naturally curious. Therefore, they explore and pick up things that may spark an interest. Even if you warn your children about the dangers of guns, they still may want to explore the gun. You must teach your children that guns are very dangerous, not to touch the gun, to move far away from the gun, and immediately tell an adult if they see one.
There were at least 2,802 unintentional shootings by children 17 years old and younger, resulting in 1,083 deaths and 1,815 nonfatal injuries between 2015 and 2022 in the United States (“Guns in the home: Keeping kids safe,” n.d.). At least 895 preschoolers and toddlers found a gun and unintentionally shot themselves.
If you have a gun in the home, it is essential that there is a safe space provided in the house. Our responsibility is to ensure the gun is stored correctly and inaccessible to all children. Project ChildSafe Program provides some safety precautions for gun storage (“Parents & gun owners,” 2022):
- Store unloaded guns in a locked safe, cabinet, storage case, or vault. The location of the storage unit should be inaccessible to children.
- Gun parts should be stored securely in separate locations if the gun is disassembled.
- Separate from guns, ammunition should be stored in a locked location.
- Whenever you remove the gun from storage, double-check it to ensure it is unloaded.
Project Child Safe Program provides free Project Child Safe Safety Kits through their enforcement partners, including a cable-style gun lock and safety instructions. Use this link, Get a Safety Kit – Project ChildSafe, to request a Project ChildSafe firearm safety kit in your state.
Unintentional shootings of children are a devastating occurrence and can be prevented with safety precautions in the home and teaching our children about the dangers of guns. Most importantly, never leave a child alone in the house where a gun is kept. Let’s protect our children from guns.
References:
Guns in the home: Keeping kids safe. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-home/Pages/Handguns-in-the-Home.aspx
Parents & gun owners. (2022, October 25). Retrieved from https://projectchildsafe.org/parents-and-gun-owners/
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