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Vox Report Highlights New Everytown Data on Unintentional Shootings by Children

4.26.2023

As reported by Vox today, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund released new data on unintentional shootings by children.

Guns are the number one killer of children and teens in America. Everytown’s new report details how, while the vast majority of these gun deaths are homicides and suicides, unintentional shootings—which make up five percent of annual gun deaths among children under 18—are a persistent and heartbreaking aspect of this public health crisis. 

Most importantly, unintentional shootings by children are preventable when families securely store their firearms in their homes and in homes that children are visiting.

While the CDC rightfully focuses their data collection on gun violence victims, understanding the circumstances in which children access loaded guns and unintentionally shoot themself or someone else is essential for preventing these tragedies. Everytown has been collecting and analyzing this data since 2015 in its #NotAnAccident Index. 

Key findings from the report include:

  • Nearly one child gains access to a loaded firearm and unintentionally shoots themself or someone else every day in America—an average of 350 children a year.
  • The victims of shootings by children are most often also children. Over nine in 10 of those wounded or killed in unintentional shootings by children were also under 18 years old.
  • Since 2015, nearly one in every three unintentional shooters were preschoolers. The proportion of shootings by children five and under during this eight-year period has increased while those by high schoolers has declined.
  • The 10 states with the highest rates of unintentional child shootings had rates that were, on average, over 10 times higher than those of the 10 states with the lowest rates.
  • States with secure storage or child-access prevention laws had the lowest rates of unintentional child shootings. Rates of unintentional shootings by children were 34 percent lower in states with laws that hold gun owners accountable when children do gain access to an unsecured gun, compared to states without such laws.

More from Vox:

“I honor JaJuan by using my voice to talk to Americans all over the country, from all walks of life, about secure storage of firearms,” said Julvonnia McDowell, a volunteer with the gun safety movement Moms Demand Action, whose 14-year-old son, JaJuan McDowell, was unintentionally shot and killed in 2016 by another teen who was playing with an unsecured gun. “For me, taking action isn’t a choice, it’s my new path, my new mission. But gun violence is an issue that we all need to worry about.”

Along with reducing suicides, these two states [Massachusetts and Oregon] with the strongest policies have a 78 percent lower rate of unintentional shootings when compared to states without secure storage laws.

“Secure storage laws are some of the most evidence-proven gun safety laws that there are,” said Sarah Burd-Sharps, senior director of research for Everytown. “I think the hopeful news of this report is that nearly all of these shootings are preventable.”

“When you send your children to someone else’s home, you often ask questions to keep them safe: Do you have pets? Do you have a pool, and if so, how is it secured? My child has an allergy, do you have peanuts in your house? “All of those things are routine,” says Burd-Sharps. “Asking about firearms and how they’re stored should be another routine safety precaution.”

… 

“We should talk to our kids about gun safety, but it’s a precaution, it is not a guarantee,” Johanna Thomas — a licensed certified social worker, gun owner, and volunteer with Moms Demand Action, agreed. “The onus is on adults to keep children safe, always, at every point.”

Read the full story here.

Parents and adults can find more information on how to prevent these tragedies through Everytown’s secure storage campaign, Be SMART For Kids (“Be SMART”). Be SMART helps parents and other adults normalize conversations about gun safety and take responsible actions that can prevent child gun deaths and injuries, youth suicide, and gunfire on school grounds. 

The program encourages parents and adults to: 

  • Secure all guns in their home and vehicles
  • Model responsible behavior around guns
  • Ask about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes
  • Recognize the role of guns in suicide
  • Tell your peers to be SMART

For more information on secure firearm storage and the most effective ways to protect children from unsecured firearms, visit BeSMARTforkids.org. Additional information about unintentional shootings by children can be found here, facts and resources about child gun suicide can be found here, and information about gunfire on school grounds can be found here.

Read Everytown’s report Preventable Tragedies: Unintentional Shootings by Children here.


To speak with an expert at Everytown about our research on unintentional shootings, do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected].