About 7 million kids live in a home with a loaded and unlocked gun, a study finds

"“This study sheds further light on the fact that there are millions of kids living in this country, in households where weapons are readily available and often not locked up,” says Dr. Chethan Sathya, a pediatric surgeon and director of the Center for Gun Violence Prevention at Northwell Health, a health system in New York. “Many of these families don't know the risk of having that gun not being locked up.”"

"“When children take their own lives purposefully, in a suicide, the gun almost always comes from their home,” says Miller, who is the lead author of the study published Tuesday. “It's usually owned by a parent, and clearly, the children gain access to those guns.” Studies show that safe storage of firearms can prevent these suicide deaths."

"“When guns are locked up, it reduces the risk of dying by suicide, by firearm suicide in particular, by threefold,” says Miller. “That doesn't eliminate the risk, but it mitigates it.” For the new study, Miller and his colleagues wanted to know how gun-owning parents with kids at home are storing their firearms these days."

"They surveyed nearly 900 parents of kids under 18 who own guns. Nearly 35% said they stored them in the safest way possible unloaded and locked up. But 21% had at least one firearm in the house unlocked and loaded the least safe way possible to store a gun. “So you pick it up, and you can fire it,” explains M"

An estimated 32 million children in the United States live in homes with firearms, and nearly 7 million have at least one firearm that is unlocked and loaded. Firearms have been the leading cause of death among children and teens since 2020, with many deaths due to homicide and a significant share due to suicide. In child suicides, the gun almost always comes from the child’s home, typically owned by a parent, with children gaining access. Safe storage can prevent firearm suicide deaths. When guns are locked up, the risk of dying by firearm suicide is reduced about threefold, though risk is not eliminated. A survey of nearly 900 gun-owning parents found 35% stored firearms unloaded and locked, while 21% stored at least one firearm unlocked and loaded.

Read at www.npr.org