Keep Children Safe from Gun Violence - Browning gun safes

The Ad Council

Keeping our children safe from gun violence is the top priority for all Americans. Recent school shootings and ongoing street violence prove that we cannot always protect them from gun violence in the community and at school. However, we can take steps to make sure they are safe from gun-related incidents at home.

While Americans have the right to own guns, they have the responsibility to store those guns safely and out of children's reach. 35-40% of households own at least one gun; 74% own two or more. Alarmingly, 30% of all handguns are stored unlocked and loaded in the owner's home or vehicle, and more than half of all guns are stored unlocked.

More often than not, a young person handles a gun out of curiosity -- and then it accidentally goes off. It is crucial that children know what to do if they find a gun:

Stop. Don't touch. Get away. Tell a trusted adult RIGHT AWAY.

It is not enough to instruct children about gun safety. About 65% of young people who carry guns outside the home borrow them from a family member or friend. This tells us that kids don't just have access to guns -- it's easy for them to take the guns to school.

Gun owners can easily prevent these tragic injuries and deaths by safely storing and locking all guns (rifles AND handguns):

First and foremost, unload your gun. Make sure there isn't a single bullet left in or near the gun. Keep ammunition locked up in a safe or lockbox. Keep the key with you, or the combination memorized. Lock up the unloaded gun. While most experts agree that a gun safe is the most secure storage (they usually weigh at least 50 pounds and can be bolted to the floor), a gun box (made of sturdy, high-grade steel) can have hidden button combinations and hinges on the inside to make opening it more difficult.

In addition to storing the gun in a secure place, locking the weapon itself is a smart precaution. There are various types of gunlocks available today:

Trigger Lock: a 2-piece lock that clamps on either side of the trigger and locks so that it is not possible to pull the trigger back far enough to fire the gun. Barrel Lock: locks the gun by looping a high-strength steel cable and a blocking piece of metal through the barrel of the gun. Smart Guns -- the wave of the future? Research is underway to develop guns that will only respond to the programmed owner's identity through mechanisms such as thumbprint or specially encoded rings. Several models are now undergoing testing.

Remember to keep guns unloaded and locked up securely, because an unlocked gun could be the death of your family.