Firearms
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Unintentional Firearm Injury:
Firearms are a common household risk for children in the United States. Research shows that exposure to guns increases the risk of unintentional and intentional firearm injury to children. There are an estimated 200 million firearms in US homes, including 60 million handguns. Nearly half of US homes have some type of firearm and one in four have a handgun. Unrealistic perceptions of children's capabilities and behavioral tendencies with regard to guns are common, such as misunderstanding a child's ability to: gain access to and fire a gun; distinguish between real and toy guns; make good judgments about handling a gun and consistently follow rules about gun safety.
Guns are now a prevalent health hazard. More than half of American's families keep firearms in their homes. Injuries and deaths from firearms are escalating at an alarming rate in the United States. In 1990, several states reported that firearm-related injuries surpassed motor-vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death. There is a need for firearm education. Even if you do not have guns in your home, your children may come in contact with a gun at someone else's house. If you choose to have a gun, firearm or pellet gun in your home, it's your responsibility to educate your family. You also are responsible for proper storing of all firearms. Education is our first line of defense in eliminating unintentional gun injuries.
Deaths and Injuries:
- Each year, more than 200 children ages 14 and under die from unintentional shootings.
- Males die 14 times more than females from unintentional gunshot wounds.
- Of all unintentional firearm-related deaths to children ages 14 and under, more than 60 percent occur to children ages 10 to 14.
- Nearly 25 percent of firearm-related deaths to children ages 14 and under are unintentional.
- Of those children ages 14 and under who were killed from an unintentional shooting, 86 percent were male.
- For children ages 10 to 14, African-American males have slightly higher death rates from unintentional shootings than Caucasian males.
- In 1992, an estimated 3,600 children ages 14 and under were hospitalized from unintentional gunshot wounds and an additional 15,000 received medical treatment.
How and When:
- Nearly all childhood unintentional shooting deaths occur in or around the home.
- Most childhood unintentional shooting deaths involve guns which have been kept loaded and accessible to children.
- Most children are killed or kill other children while playing with handguns found in their homes or the homes of family or friends.
- One study found that 51 percent of handguns were stored unlocked, another 30 percent were kept loaded, and an additional 13 percent were kept both unlocked and loaded.
- A gun in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a family member or friend than to be used in self-defense.
- One study found that when a gun was in the home, as many as 80 percent of young children knew where the gun was kept.
- Of gun owners, 85 percent say they never worry about someone in their home being injured by a gun.
Costs:
- One study showed that the average hospital charges for treating a child with a firearm injury was more than $14,000.
- Each year, the estimated lifetime costs for unintentional shootings to children ages 14 and under is $3.7 billion.
- Among children ages 14 and under, unintentional firearm injuries account for more than half of the total cost of firearm injuries.
Prevention:
- An estimated 31 percent of all unintentional shootings could be prevented by the presence of two safety features: trigger locks and loading indicators.
- One study found that every single unintentional shooting in which a child age 5 and under shot and killed themselves or others could have been prevented by a childproof gun safety device.
- Gun owners should always store unloaded firearms and ammunition in separate, locked locations and use safety devices. All parents should teach children never to touch a gun and to tell an adult if they find a gun.
Firearm Safety Myths: Five Myths and the Truth about firearm safety.
Facts:
- Nearly two-thirds of firearm-owning parents with school-age children believe they keep their firearm safely away from their children. However, one study found that when a gun was in the home, 75 to 80 percent of first- and second-graders knew where it was kept.
- Few children under age 8 can reliably distinguish between real and toy guns or fully understand the consequences of their actions. Yet children as young as 3 are strong enough to pull the trigger of many handguns.
- Unintentional shootings occur most often when children are unsupervised and out of school. They tend to occur in the late afternoon (peaking between 4 and 5 p.m.), during the weekend, and during the summer months and holiday season.
- Rates of unintentional firearm-related injury are higher in rural areas, where people are more likely to own firearms. Shootings in rural areas are more likely to occur outdoors with a shotgun or rifle; in cities, most shootings occur indoors with a handgun.
- Boys are far more likely to be injured and die from firearm-related incidents than girls. Of children killed in unintentional shootings, nearly 80 percent are male.
- Unrealistic perceptions of children's abilities and behavior are common factors in these incidents. Parents frequently misperceive a child's ability to gain access to and fire a gun, to distinguish between real and toy guns, to make good judgments about handling a gun, and to consistently follow gun safety rules.
These facts point to some significant gaps ? gaps that hundreds of children fall through every year. Each year an estimated 1,500 children ages 14 and under are treated in hospital emergency rooms for unintentional firearm-related injuries. In 1998, 121 children died from those injuries.
Nothing outweighs the loss or serious injury of a child. Storing firearms safely and reducing their accessibility are essential steps in protecting our children.
Why Kids Are at Risk:
Some parents think their children aren't at risk because they don't own guns. Other parents think their kids are safe because they do own guns and the kids know "the rules." The truth is, all children are potentially at risk of unintentional firearm injury. However, knowing how and why injuries occur, and taking action, can substantially reduce that risk.
Nearly all childhood unintentional shooting deaths occur in or around the home. Half occur in the home of the victim, and nearly 40 percent occur at a friend or relative's house. Most of these deaths involve guns that have been kept loaded and accessible to children and occur when children play with loaded guns. In one recent study of parents of children ages 4 to 12, more than half reported storing a firearm loaded or unlocked in their home. All told, 1 in 4 homes contains a handgun.
Protecting Your Family:
Other factors change, but there's one common denominator in every unintentional firearm injury: access to a loaded firearm. The most important thing parents, caregivers and gun owners can do to protect children is reduce their access to firearms and safely store all guns.
Here's what gun owners can do:
- If you have children in the home, any gun is a potential danger to them. Seriously consider the risks.
- Store firearms unloaded, locked up and out of children's reach.
- Store ammunition in a separate, locked location.
- Use quality gun locks, lock boxes or gun safes on every firearm. Gun locks, when correctly installed, prevent firearms from being discharged without the lock being removed.
- Keep gun storage keys and lock combinations hidden in a separate location.
- Take a course in using, maintaining and storing guns safely.
Here's what all caregivers can do:
- Talk to your children about the potential dangers of guns.
- Teach children never to touch or play with a gun.
- Teach children to tell an adult if they find a gun, or call 9-1-1 or the local emergency number if no adult is present.
- Check with neighbors, friends or relatives ? or adults in any other homes where children visit ? to ensure they follow safe storage practices if firearms are in the home.
Protecting Communities:
Even if your child is never directly involved in a firearm injury, incidents like these can devastate entire communities ? affecting the families, friends, neighbors and schoolmates of the victims.
Currently, 17 states have enacted child access prevention laws, which may hold adults criminally liable for failing either to store loaded firearms in a place inaccessible to children or to use safety devices to lock guns. Safe storage laws are effective: they have been proven to reduce unintentional firearm-related deaths among children an average of 23 percent.
Two safety devices ? gun locks and load indicators ? could prevent more than 30 percent of all unintentional firearm deaths, including every incident in which a child age 5 and under shot and killed himself or another person. Four states and several local jurisdictions have already passed laws or ordinances requiring the provision of a gun lock with the purchase of every handgun.
What SAFE KIDS is Doing:
SAFE KIDS supports the Child Handgun Injury Prevention Act now pending in Congress. This legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, in the Senate and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., in the House of Representatives. If passed, this bill would enable the Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish a performance standard for gun locks to ensure that effective and quality locks are available for sale to consumers.
SAFE KIDS also supports both child access prevention laws (described above) and safe storage laws, which require gun owners to store guns with a gun lock or in a lock box. The National SAFE KIDS Campaign provides its model child access prevention legislation to local SAFE KIDS coalitions and state legislators.
SAFE KIDS has been instrumental in making thousands of gun locks available at a discount through its local coalitions. Our coalitions also educate children in the schools about preventing unintentional firearm injury and educate families about safe gun storage through free materials, public awareness campaigns and the media.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- I own a gun, and I have children in my home. What safety precautions should I take?
You should always store firearms unloaded and locked up.
Ammunition should be locked and in a separate location that is up and out of reach of children.
Use quality gun locks, load indicators and other safety devices on all firearms.
You should teach your children never to touch a gun and to tell an adult immediately if they ever find a gun.
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