SAFER STORAGE OF FIREARMS
Evidence shows that parents of adolescents — the most at-risk group in terms of unintentional firearm deaths — were more likely than parents of younger children to keep guns in the home stored unsafely (unlocked, loaded, or both).19
If a person chooses to store their firearm in the home, it is important to always practice safe firearm storage. For at-home firearm storage, it is widely recommended to store firearms locked and unloaded, store and lock ammunition separately from firearms, and ensure the key or lock combination is inaccessible to children or others who may be at risk for injury.
Safely storing and reducing access to firearms for the gun owner and other individuals, especially children, in the home is an unintentional injury prevention strategy supported by researchers, healthcare professionals, and gun owners alike. While there is no safer storage law at the federal level, various safer storage laws exist at the state level.20
Healthcare providers can also play a role in preventing unintentional firearm injuries by improving their patients’ safer storage practices through lethal means safety counseling. Studies show that healthcare providers influencing patients’ gun storage practices can substantially lower the risk of firearm-related injury.21 For example, researchers found that for every five gun-owning parents whose child’s pediatrician gave them lethal means safety counseling and free cable locks, two parents reported using the cable locks six months later.22 In addition to parents, lethal means safety counseling should be given to individuals who have risk factors for unintentional firearm injury, including people with risky alcohol or substance use and individuals with dementia or conditions impairing cognition and judgment.
To learn more, visit our page on lethal means safety counseling.
Explanation:
https://efsgv.org/learn/type-of-gun-violence/unintentional-shootings/
