Accidental Family Shootings

Facts

• Unintentional injury is a leading cause of death among U.S. children and adolescents ages 0–17, and firearms are a leading injury method. —CDC
• Approximately one half of unintentional firearm injury deaths among children and adolescents occurred at their home. Playing with or showing the firearm to another person was the most common precipitating circumstance. —CDC
• Firearms used in unintentional injury deaths were often stored loaded and unlocked and were commonly accessed from nightstands and other sleeping areas. —CDC
• The majority (85.5 percent) of victims were fatally injured at a house or apartment, including 55.6 percent in their own home. —CDC
• Common circumstances included showing the firearm to another person (66.6 percent), unintentionally pulling the trigger (21.3 percent), believing the gun was unloaded or otherwise safe (20.5 percent), and mistaking the firearm for a toy (10.6 percent). —CDC
• Seventy-six percent of firearms used in unintentional deaths among children were stored unlocked. —Campus Safety, citing CDC
• About one third of American children live in homes with firearms; among these homes, 43 percent contain at least one unlocked firearm. More than two million American children live in homes with unsecured guns. —Everytown

Possible Solutions Underway

Lock up guns.

Laws

• Locking laws require gun owners to store firearms securely.
• After-access laws penalize gun owners if a child accesses an unsecured firearm.
• Intentional or reckless access laws apply only when a gun owner provides a firearm to a child.

Personal responsibility

• Ask about guns in the homes your child visits.
• Lock up firearms in your home. Do not show anyone other than another responsible adult in your home how to unlock the firearms.
• Talk to your children about the dangers of guns. If there is any doubt about whether a gun is real or a toy, assume it is real.
• Teach your child never to point a gun at themselves or anyone else.