The risks to our children of unsafe firearm storage practices are significant. Without any exaggeration, the way a gun is stored can be a matter of life and death for our children. Tragedies occur daily involving unlocked firearms easily accessible to young people, either at their own homes or the home of a relative or neighbor. These tragedies might very well never have happened if the adults in these children’s lives had unloaded and locked their firearms and ammunition, so that the children could not have such easy access to them.

National research shows that 40% of households with children have a firearm in the house, and 1 in 4 of these guns is kept loaded. In addition, in a majority of accidents and suicides and in many of the homicides, the firearms that were used were found at home.

It is vital that guns always be locked up and stored unloaded. Children never should have easy access to guns without parental supervision. This is especially true for handguns, because they are much more likely to be kept where children can get to them. According to the National Institute of Justice survey, handguns are likely to be stored in bedrooms where it is easy for children to find them.

Children are naturally curious, especially when it comes to guns. Parents should not lull themselves into a false sense of security on this matter, even if they have spoken to their children about guns. As Judy Shaw, Director of the Injury Prevention Program at Children’s Hospital in Boston, noted, "any small child who picks up a gun . . . is going to put a finger on the trigger and click it." All parents must take common sense steps to protect children, both by talking to them about guns and by unloading and locking all guns so that a child or teen cannot access them without direct adult supervision.

To ensure the safety of children, all gun owners should: