What We Don 't Know About Guns

Then there are the stories of kids who found their parents guns in the desk drawer or under the bed, that accidently shoot their friend or themselves. This happens all too often and can tear families apart. “The guns children use to shoot other children all start out in the hands of adults. The Children’s Gun Violence Prevention Act of 1998 shuts down the sources of guns for kids by placing increased responsibility on parents and gun dealers. Parents whose children gain access to improperly stored guns in the home will risk facing criminal penalties” (Koch). This is a great law to have on the books. This will help ensure that someone is held

There have been many instances where firearms have not been locked up correctly and a small child has gotten a hold of it and a loss of life has occured. These bad situations have been tragic but the only thing that can be blamed for it is one thing. Improper storage of firearms. If there are children in a household any weapon of any kind should always be locked up and out of reach of small fingers. These situations would not occur if people learned to take better care of their weapons and their kids. Children who are not yet old enough to understand the concept of the dangers of a gun and how to properly treat one should never be in reach of these potentially dangerous

The article from the Washington Post was about a toddler boy who accidentally shot his sister, Kimi, in their great-grandparent’s house. The great-grandfather left out the gun, the grandmother did not see the gun, and the mother’s son pulled the trigger to the gun that killed his sister (McCoy 1). There were many people around and many precautionary steps that were breezed by in order for the shooting to happen. In our nation, “nearly 4 percent of shootings are unintentional and, in a given week, two children die from accidental shootings, according to gun violence research” (McCoy 1) Accidents such as Kimi’s death do happen, but there are safety steps that can be taken to prevent shootings like what happened.

As the production of firearms has grown to become a multibillion dollar industry, the exposure the public has had to firearms has also increased accordingly. Because more and more individuals have chosen to own guns, the amount of innocents that have been killed has consequently climbed. In the United States, since 1.69 million kids age 18 and under are living in households

You walk through the door, after a long day and you see your six year old son holding a gun that you thought you stored , and your toddler is on the floor with blood gushing out of his body. Your son now scarred, and precious daughter now dying, it’s too late too late to think ‘What could I have done to prevent this’. 48 children and teens are killed either accidentally, in a suicide, or in a homicide every day in America (one person every 30 minutes.) Unintentional gun deaths and suicide are among the top ten of the leading causes of teenage deaths in America (CDC, 2015). Any incident of gun violence involving an underage shooter, is an accident.

     Guns in America are a problem as bad as the drug problem: 43% of households that have children have handguns in them; 10 children die every day from handguns, approximately one every 2 ½ hours. That is the same of a classroom of children every two days. Parents do not realize that children get the physical capacity to reach and discharge a firearm long before the ability to understand the potential consequences of these actions. Parents who insist on keeping guns in the home should be urged strongly to store their firearms unloaded and locked in a secure place. Actions like these will reduce the probability of children being killed by a firearm. The presence of handguns

Most school shooters are not old enough to be able to purchase a firearm. However, “...it has been found that two thirds of school shooters obtained their firearms from their own home, or the home of a relative...” (Towers et al. 2015). These shooters will have to go through either their parents or relatives belongings to obtain the gun that they are looking for. Even when parents believe that they have put their weapons in a safe place away from their children, if the children have the want to do something bad, they will find that weapon and use it. Children that become school shooters will believe that the firearm that they obtained from their house

The quantity of incidents involving guns in the US is rising substantially. A major reason for this is the improper storage of these weapons, the U.S. General Accounting Office estimated that 31% of accidental deaths caused by firearms could be prevented with the addition of 2 possible devices: a child-proof

Guns don’t kill people; people kill people. A responsible gun owner is rarely involved in any sort of gun related accident. According to Kyle Wintersteen, Managing Editor of Guns and Ammo, studies show that "children taught about firearms and their legitimate uses by family members have much lower rates of delinquency than children in households without guns" and "children introduced to guns associate them with freedom, security, and recreation—not violence."

Hours earlier he was a happy 4 year old that loved the Hulk, Iron Man, and all of the Avengers. Now as Bryson Mees-Hernandez approached death with his brain swelling from a bullet hole in his face, his mother assured the boy it was ok to die. Bryson was playing under his grandma's bed and accidentally shot himself with a .22 caliber in the face. Many ways could've saved his life if Bryson’s grandma would have stored the gun in a safe where Bryson couldn't have got ahold of it and accidentally shot himself. About 200 million Americans own guns; about 59.6% more males use guns for suicide than females. The only way to stop that is to build a safe reliable gun room.

Gun violence continues to dominate national headlines. On average, the gun violence epidemic leaves a child or teen wounded or dead every hour in the United States, resulting in 47 American children and teens shot every day, and culminating to ___ shot every year. Deaths related to gun violence are now the third leading cause of death for American children. And these statistics are based solely on the actual deaths, but does not account for those exposed to this brutality—friends, family members, and other children who are psychologically damaged and struck with fear in their hearts.

Furthermore, the continuance of teaching the education of properly using firearms is crucial to decrease the likely chance of accidents that may occur. As an example of this, children under the age of 18 die because of they stumble upon a gun of somesort and curiosity gets the best of them (meaning that the child accidentally heaves the trigger of the firearm, resulting in unintentional critical injuries or fatalities). To make the picture more clear, the CDC indicates between the years of 2007 to 2011 that on average of about sixty-two children (the age of 14 and under) in cases of involuntary firing a gun. (claim 2)

According to the U.S Department of Justice “In 1994, 44 million Americans owned 192 million firearms” (p. 1), during the same year, 1,374 people were killed and 14,951 people were injured because of an unintentional firearm situation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1999). Here’s the issue: the amount of people being victims of accidental gun deaths and injuries “has remained relatively constant since” wrote the University of Utah on its document Gun Control Issues, Public Health, and Safety.

An improperly stored gun in your home can be vital risk factor for injury and death in children. Injuries related from firearms are certainly one of the primary causes of death in children. Homicide, suicide and deaths from unintentional injuries are some of the many cases related to this.

     Guns were a major cause of accidents. In 1995, firearms were responsible for 1.5 % or 1,400 fatal accidents. They were responsible for 2.7% or 181 of accidents that involved children under 14. There were 259 fatal firearm accidents for teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 (Gun control 2002). Dr. Roth, a research director in Bethesda Maryland, says “ In short, people are not always thinking rationally, and when there is a gun around, it is easier for an irrational person to do greater damage” (Jason 2002).