On the education side, The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence' s STOP 2 program provides educational materials on the dangers of guns in the home.   It is critical that current and potential gun owners learn the facts about the dangers of keeping a gun in the home. 

At every opportunity the NRA uses the fear of crime to promote the need for ordinary citizens to keep guns in their home for self-protection; ignores public health research on the risks of gun ownership, and opposes life-saving measures that require safe-storage of guns in the home.  The result is senseless gun deaths and injuries.

Because handguns and other firearms are so easily accessible to many children, adolescents, and other family members in their homes, the risk of gun violence in the home increases dramatically. Consider this:

• The risk of homicide in the home is three times greater in households with guns.⁴

• The risk of suicide is five times greater in households with guns.⁵

• From 1990-1998, over two-thirds of spouse and ex-spouse murder victims were killed with guns.⁷

• Guns are the weapon of choice for troubled individuals who commit suicide. In 2004, firearms were used in 16,750 suicide deaths in America. Among young people under 20, more than two young lives were lost daily to firearm-related suicides.⁸

• Due to firearm suicides, there are more than twice as many suicide victims in states with high household firearm ownership.⁹

• A gun in the home also increases the likelihood of an unintentional shooting, particularly among children. Unintentional shootings commonly occur when children find an adult's loaded handgun in a drawer or closet, and while playing with it shoot themselves, a sibling or a friend. The unintentional firearm-related death rate for children 0-14 years old is NINE times higher in the U.S. than in the 25 other countries combined.¹⁰

• On August 7, 2007, an 8-year-old Hope, Arkansas boy died after he accidentally shot himself in the chest.  He was in the care of a baby-sitter at the time of the shooting and was in a separate room from the sitter when he was shot, police said.  (“Gun tragedy claims child – 8-year-old boy accidently shoots himself in chest, authorities say,” Texarkana Gazette, August 8, 2007). 

• On April 5, 2007, a 14-year old girl was killed when she accidentally shot herself in the face during a family gathering.  The family had come together for her uncle’s funeral, which had taken place earlier that day.  She was in a room with two other children when she shot herself.  (“Girl Shoots Herself, Dies in Accident,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2007)

• On March 12, 2007, a 6-year old girl was shot in the midst of a gunfight between her father and a robber in the hallway of their apartment complex.  The father chased the robber down the hallway with a handgun, after the robber had taken money from their home.  The girl followed her father into the hallway and ended up in the line of fire. (“Child Shot During Father’s Gunfight with Robbery Suspect,” The Fort Wayne News Sentinel, March 12, 2007)

• On February 21, 2007, a father and his 8-year old son were taken to the hospital after the father accidentally fired his gun in their home.  At least one round was fired, piercing the father’s hand and hitting the child in the stomach.  The gun was a .45 caliber and was kept in the house where the shooting occurred. (“Police Investigate Shooting of Son,” Indystar.com, February 22, 2007)

• On January 27, 2007, a 12-year old boy was hospitalized after another boy shot him in the stomach with a 20-gauge shotgun.  The boys were by themselves at an uncle’s house when they found the gun in a bedroom.  It appears that they were just playing, and that the shooting was entirely accidental.  (“Boy Accidentally Shot With Shotgun in Cherokee County,” The Macon Telegraph, January 29, 2007)

• On January 24, 2007, a 16-year old girl was injured when she was shot with a .38 caliber gun in her trailer park.  Allegedly, an 18-year old male was showing off with the gun when it discharged, striking her in the hand and abdomen.  (“Teen Injured in Accidental Shooting,” wthr.com, January 24, 2007) 

• On January 15, 2007, an 11-year old boy accidentally shot a 3-year old child in the woods behind their house.  The gun belonged to the 11-year old’s father, who was afterwards charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  (“Authorities May Charge 11-Year-Old in Alexander County Shooting,” wsoctv.com, January 22, 2007)

Do Parents Do a Good Job of Keeping Kids Away from Guns in the Home?

No. A 1998 study by Peter Hart Research on behalf of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence (now the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) found that, even though most parents realize that guns in the home endanger their children, many parents still leave guns accessible to kids.

In the nationwide survey of 806 parents, 43% of households with children have guns, and 23% of gun households keep a gun loaded. 28% keep a gun hidden and unlocked. 54% of parents said that they would be highly concerned about their child's safety if they knew there was a gun in the home of their child's friend. Despite many parents' concern about the immediate dangers that guns left in the house pose to their children, they are failing to take the necessary steps to help ensure their children's safety. Perhaps most significantly, many parents simply do not view guns as a personal threat to their children or their family whatsoever.

Too often a parent drops off their child at a friend's house for an afternoon play session or a sleep-over party not knowing that the car ride would be the last time they would see their child alive. Why? The study found that most parents don't discuss the issue of guns in the home with the parents of their children's friends. Amazingly, only 30% have asked the parents of their children's friends if there is a gun in the home before allowing a visit. 61% of the parents included in the survey responded that they never even thought about asking other parents about gun accessibility.

Unfortunately, many parents don't think about the tragic possibilities of an innocent visit to another home. While parents are asking each other about supervision, food allergies, adult television access, they are ignoring guns - the one factor that could mean the life or death of their child.

Child Access Prevention Laws

The Brady Campaign supports Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws, or "safe storage" laws that require adults to either store loaded guns in a place that is reasonably inaccessible to children, or if they decide to leave their guns left out in the open, to use a safety device to lock the gun. If a child obtains an improperly stored, loaded gun, the adult owner is criminally liable.

Although the primary intention of CAP laws is to help prevent unintentional injury, CAP laws can also serve to reduce juvenile suicide and homicide by keeping guns out of the reach of children. Currently, 18 states - California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin - have enacted CAP laws. In addition, Kansas courts have held that gun owners in Kansas may be held liable if they leave guns easily accessible to children.

1. National Opinion Research Center, The University of Chicago, Public Attitudes towards the Regulation of Firearms, 1, March 2007 (hereafter Public Attitudes).
2. Kellermann AL. "Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home." Journal of Trauma, 1998; 45(2):263-67.
3. Kellermann AL. "Weapon Involvement in Home Invasion Crimes." JAMA 1995; 273(22):1759-62.
Kellermann, AL, Rivara, FP, Rushforth NB, et al. "Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home." New England Journal of Medicine. 1993; 329: 1084-1091.
4. Kellermann, AL, Rivara FP, Somes G, et al. "Suicide in the home in relation to gun ownership." New England Journal of Medicine. 1992; 327: 467-472.
5. Kellermann AL. "Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home." Journal of Trauma, 1998; 45(2):263-67.
6. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends in the U.S.: Intimate Homicide, 2004.
7. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control, 2004 data, http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html (hereafter Injury Mortality Reports).
8. Miller, Matthew et al., Household Firearm Ownership and Rates of Suicide across the 50 United States, Journal of Trauma, 2007; 62:1029-1035.
9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Rates of homicide, suicide and firearm-related death among children – 26 industrialized countries." Morbidity
10. Mortality Weekly Report. 02/07/97; 46:5. 101-105.