Overview
Gun violence, accidental and intentional is the number one killer of children and teens in the U.S., surpassing all other causes of death, including car crashes. While access to firearms in the home is a significant contributing factor, the majority of U.S. gun owners do not practice safe firearm storage. There are no federal laws requiring the safe storage of guns. However, several states have passed Safe Storage laws, which are associated with significantly reduced risk of youth injury and death from firearms.
Parenting styles can vary drastically, but there is one thing all responsible parents can agree on: child safety is paramount. Parents routinely buckle their children into car seats, cover electrical outlets, lock medicine cabinets, and buy bike helmets to protect their children from preventable harm. While these protections certainly prevent injury and death, there is a gaping hole in child protection that must also be addressed to ensure children’s safety: safe gun storage.
Gun violence, accidental and intentional is the number one killer of children and teens in the U.S., surpassing all other causes of death, including car crashes. Only about 20 percent of parents are aware of this statistic. In 2022, on average, seven children died every day as a result of a firearm.
There are more firearms in the United States than people, and approximately 4.6 million children live in homes with unlocked, loaded guns. Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics affirming that the safest place for children is in a home without guns, around half of Americans believe that gun ownership does more to increase safety than decrease it.
A parent’s worst nightmare may be hearing that their child was killed in a school shooting. Though this is a valid fear, the majority of children (85 percent) who are fatally injured by guns die in a house or apartment, most often their own home. One-third of children accidentally killed by a firearm died in the home of a friend or relative.
Yet the majority of U.S. gun owners do not practice safe firearm storage. Additionally, the majority of parents erroneously believe that their children can differentiate between a real gun and a toy gun. A three-year-old child is strong enough to pull the trigger of most guns in circulation, including handguns and military style rifles. Also, many parents underestimate their children’s knowledge of and ability to access firearms in the home. The majority of children know exactly where a gun is located in the home.
Additionally, firearms contribute to worsening suicide rates among youths. The rate of youth suicide deaths by firearm in the U.S. is nine times higher than that of other countries. For every ten percentage-point increase in state gun ownership, there is a 39.3 percent increase in youth suicides. Firearms are the most lethal method of suicide with 89.6 percent of attempts resulting in death, followed by suicide by drowning (56.4 percent) and by hanging (52.7 percent). Youth who die from firearm suicide at home are “far more likely” to use a gun that was stored loaded and unlocked. Though white youths have historically higher rates of gun suicide, this dynamic is shifting. The gun suicide rates of Black and Hispanic/Latino youths have risen dramatically over the last decade.
Gun owners can prevent youth firearm deaths by creating a barrier between the firearm and youth who are curious or contemplating harm to self or others. Yet, despite these preventable deaths, less than half of all gun owners practice safe and secure storage. And federal action mandating safe storage is unlikely, given the Trump Administration’s firearm-friendly disposition. Therefore, states must step up; one effective approach is passing safe storage laws.
Safe storage laws, also referred to as Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws, require firearms to be stored in a manner that protects public health and safety. This is a non-partisan approach in which “safe means unloaded, and secure means locked up.” Nearly three in four Americans support safe storage policies, including a majority of gun owners.
By “[s]eparating at-risk individuals from potential sources of injury,” Safe Storage laws prevent injuries and save lives. Imposition of Safe Storage laws is “associated with reduction in rates of suicide by firearm (particularly among children), firearm theft, unintentional shootings, and overall youth violence.” Researchers have found that firearm safe storage laws are associated with a 13 percent reduction in suicide by gun among young people. Safe storage laws can prevent school shootings, as 74 percent of school shootings occur with a firearm obtained at home or from the home of a friend or relative.
There are no federal laws requiring the safe storage of guns. As of March 2025, 26 states and Washington, D.C. have some form of a Safe Storage law. These states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Not all safe storage laws are created equal, however.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions recommend that states adopt a safe storage requirement that applies to all firearms in the home and in vehicles that are not in the possessor’s “direct control.” They define “direct control” as “possessing a firearm on your person or within your immediate reach.” Of the 26 states with a safe storage law, only five (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island) and the District of Columbia meet this standard.
Researchers also recommend that safe storage laws include a child access prevention (CAP) component, specifically imposing additional penalties on owners where minors are living in or may be present on the premises. Such laws should be expansive enough to cover “short periods of time, such as visits with friends or neighbors.” Of the 26 states with a safe storage law, 25 have a CAP requirement (Connecticut does not).
Further, optimal home storage requirements are: (1) use of locked, hard-sided containers that no one but the owner has the key or combination to and (2) unloaded firearms. Researchers recommend the same conditions for guns stored in vehicles.
Some states have general safe storage requirements for guns in homes and vehicles, whereas others only require safe storage where it can reasonably be expected that minors or prohibited individuals may be on the premises. Only five states (California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, and New York) and the District of Columbia have a safe storage requirement for vehicles.
Regardless of state law, parents should ensure safe storage of guns at home and in vehicles. Parents need not wait for Safe Storage legislation to be passed to protect their children from firearm injury and death.
This article was written by Lauren Gammer, J.D., student attorney, Public Health Law Clinic, University of Maryland Carey School of Law, and reviewed by Kathi Hoke, J.D., Director, Network for Public Health Law—Eastern Region.
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