Kids and guns: Let these 2 tragic NC incidents serve as a reminder

Americans are deeply divided about guns. But whether we support robust gun rights or would like to see more restrictions on firearms, most of us agree about at least one thing: Unsupervised kids shouldn’t have access to guns. Recent events in North Carolina illustrate why.

On Oct. 16 a 2-year-old in Benson climbed into his father’s pickup truck and fatally shot himself with a pistol he found there, according to the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office.

On Oct. 13 in Raleigh a teenager is believed to have shot and killed five people, including his older brother and an off-duty police officer. Although we don’t know yet how the alleged Raleigh shooter obtained the shotgun and handgun Raleigh police have reported finding in his possession, we do know that most teenage mass shooters obtain their guns at home.

In 2020, nearly 100 children under age 15 died in gun accidents across the United States. Almost half were under age 5. North Carolina alone lost more than 100 children to firearm injuries in 2020 when homicides, suicides and accidents are considered together.

The numbers are equally concerning when looking beyond children as victims to children as perpetrators of gun offenses. State data show an increasing percentage of juvenile charges involve firearms. And federal data reveal that more than 1000 murders were committed by offenders under age 18 nationally in 2020 – ending the lives of the victims and forever altering the lives of the young people who committed the offenses.

Keeping guns out of the hands of children is therefore vitally important. It is also the law here in North Carolina. Our safe storage law provides that a person who lives with a minor is guilty of a crime if the person stores a gun in such a way that “the person knew or should have known that an unsupervised minor would be able to gain access to the firearm” and the minor does in fact gain access and is injured by the gun or uses it in a crime.

A gun owner can even potentially be charged with involuntary manslaughter if he or she is careless with firearm storage and a child dies as a result. In 2012, the N.C. Court of Appeals considered a case involving a father who normally stored his handgun atop a tall entertainment center, at least somewhat out of reach of small children. One day, while the family was packing up to move, the father took the gun down and put it in a place where his 3-year-old son could reach it. The boy fatally shot himself, and the court ruled that the father was properly convicted of manslaughter because of his failure to store the gun safely.

There is no single set of rules for how to store a gun safely. However, experts generally agree that guns should be stored unloaded. Keeping guns and ammunition separate can reduce the risk of an accidental discharge. Guns should be kept in a locked container such as a gun safe. Alternatively, they may be secured by a trigger lock or cable lock. Most firearm manufacturers now include a lock with every gun sold. The keys should be kept by an adult or in a place a child can’t access.

Many gun owners take reasonable precautions, and no storage system is infallible. Still, recent research suggests that there is room for improvement in how guns are stored. A nationally-representative survey of 280 families with guns in the home found that one third of teens said that they could access a loaded gun within five minutes, and half said that they could do so within an hour.

North Carolina’s Child Fatality Task Force has identified safer gun storage as a key strategy for preventing child deaths. That’s a goal we can all get behind, so please take a moment to ensure that your firearms are stored in a safe and lawful manner.