Secure gun storage

Firearms are a leading cause of injury and death among children in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2,281 children under the age of 18 died from firearms in 2020, with 721 of these deaths classified as suicide and 121 classified as unintentional. About 43 percent of child suicides involve the use of a firearm.[1]

One of the main risk factors for firearm-related injury and death among children is the accessibility of firearms in their homes. The 2021 National Firearms Survey found that guns are stored unlocked in almost half of households with both firearms and children, and that these unlocked guns are stored loaded in about 15 percent of these households.[2]

A majority of states, including states from across the political spectrum, have enacted child-access or secure storage laws.[3] To prevent children from firearm injury and death, Congress should pass legislation to establish federal statutory requirements to regulate the storage of firearms on residential premises such as the Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act, which would require firearms on residential premises to be safely and securely stored if a minor would reasonably have access, and would hold the owner of the firearm liable if a minor were to obtain and use the firearm in an unlawful way.[4]