With the onset of summer, the risk of children unintentionally shooting themselves or others increases.
Accidental shooting It often happens when kids are home, according to the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. The organization reviewed data from 2015 to 2022 and found that the highest number of unintentional shootings of children per day occurred in July.
“We know that vital organs are very close together in a child’s body. If they unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else shoots a child, they are likely to have damage to several vital structures which clearly increases the risk of prolonged exposure.” Also, because of the way their blood volume is, they can have much more serious consequences with much less blood loss than adults,” Dr. Louis Lee, who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Injury, Violence, and Toxin Prevention, said in an interview.
Some may assume that toddlers and young children may not be strong enough to pull the trigger, experts said, but that is not the case. At least 895 children ages 5 and under were able to find a gun and unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else from 2015 to 2022, according to Everytown.
This year, A.J A 6-year-old boy shot his infant brother Twice in one incident. Earlier in June, A.J A 3-year-old boy died officials said after he accidentally shot himself in Tennessee. In May, he will be 4 years old Girl accidentally shot dead Authorities said another child was in Illinois. another 4-year-old girl was seriously injured after accidentally shooting herself in the head in Georgia; Ha Father left the loaded gun on the floor from their home, the police said.
A 1995 Stady It was found that 25% of children ages 3 to 4, 70% ages 5 to 6 and 90% ages 7 to 8 had a two-finger pull force of at least 10 pounds. More than 62% of the 64 pistols reviewed in the study required a trigger pull force of less than 5 pounds.
Children are generally stronger than many adults think, said Dr. Eric Flegler, a pediatric emergency physician and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Their short limbs also play a role in how dangerous rifles can be if they reach for them.
“They grab things on their bodies,” said Flegler. “When they pull the trigger, whether it’s pointing at their face or pointing at their stomach or pointing anywhere, it still causes injury, harm and most likely death because of the very small nature of the child.”
While Everytown was unable to identify the type of gun used in every incident they recorded, handguns were used in 86% of the incidents with firearm information available. revolvers The most common type of firearm In the United States, it requires different amounts of force to pull the trigger and fire. Depending on the model, pistols can require up to 1.5 pounds of pressure on the trigger.
Haley Reinhart’s son Eli was 4 years old when he accidentally shot himself in the head in April of 2022. Doctors told Reinhart at the time that without emergency surgery, her son would die. He lost his right eye, part of his temporal lobe, and his right temporal bone. Ellie needed to learn how to walk again and had to re-learn his hand-eye coordination. He now has a fake eye and a large horseshoe scar on his head.
Reinhart’s son was shot with a gun while visiting his grandparents. Reinhart said he found the gun on top of a pile of children’s books. Although he had been told not to touch the pistols, he said he wanted to see the “rocket”—which he called a shot—inside. His finger hit the trigger and the gun went off, sending a bullet into the right corner of his right eye. It came out behind his right ear.
Reinhart knew her ex-in-laws had guns, but she had never seen them. Her former mother-in-law worked as a corrections officer at a women’s prison in Louisville, Kentucky, and her ex-father-in-law also carried guns. She always remembers asking about guns to make sure none got out when her kids were there.
“They always joked about it like I was being silly like, ‘Oh, they wouldn’t touch that,'” Reinhart said.
Reinhart was not present when her son was injured. Her now ex-husband had taken their children to visit his parents.
No criminal charges were filed in the case. To this day, Kentucky has no safe gun storage laws.
Federal law prohibits, in most cases, anyone under the age of 18 from owning a handgun. around 4.6 million minors in the United States Living in homes with at least one firearm loaded and unlocked, according to the Gifford Law Center for Gun Violence Prevention. Four out of ten American adults say they live in a home with a gun, according to a Pew Research Center survey Conducted in June 2021.
“Having a gun in your home is a major risk factor for the death of a child in that home,” said Flegler.
Flegler and Lee said it was necessary to keep the handgun locked separately from the ammunition, which also had to be locked. In their experience, guns are often an object of curiosity that children will try to reach. Both agreed that talking about safety with young children is not enough to keep them away from guns.
“They are not able to necessarily comprehend actions and consequences in a way that will remain in their brains permanently,” Lee said.
Reinhart, who said she lived in an area where guns were “close to God,” said her son was told not to touch guns. He was also told that if he saw a gun, he had to tell an adult.
“He was curious and the curiosity is beyond his mother’s words of wisdom, I think,” Reinhart said.
Firearms are regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), but there are no real product safety requirements specific to guns.
“Manufacturers are careless,” said Flegler. “They’re negligent in the fact that they don’t design these weapons in a way that minimizes damage.”
Some gun safety advocates have called for the manufacture and sale of smart guns that require biometric fingerprint technology to activate the trigger. that An estimated 37% of unintentional child deaths The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that it can be avoided through the use of personal firearm technology.
NRA, which says it is not opposed to developing Smart gunsopposes any law prohibiting Americans from acquiring or possessing firearms that do not possess smart weapon technology.
Flegler said he believes smart technology for guns is the way forward.
“There is absolutely no reason why a child, toddler or teen should be able to access another person’s gun and use it to cause harm,” said Flegler. “These are completely preventable deaths, 100%.”
For Reinhart, prevention begins with asking questions. Always trying to find out if someone has guns in their home, and if they do, how they are stored.
“I want to know that my children will be safe and protected if they go somewhere,” Reinhart said.
Rinehart, who serves as an advocate for Moms Demand Action, emphasizes safe storage. She travels and shares informational cards from Be SMART, an organization that advocates for safe gun storage. She said that while talking about gun safety with children is important, the onus should be on adults to keep firearms away from children.
“We don’t need to put that on the kids,” she said, “the responsibility lies with the adults.”
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