Every day, guns hurt or kill American children. While many firearms deaths result from violent crime, gun accidents regularly claim the lives of America's youth. Firearms are the fourth leading cause of accidental deaths among children ages 5 to 14. Moreover, firearms have become the primary method by which young people commit suicide. And the trend is getting worse.
Many young people have to look no further than their own home to get access to a gun.
Many parents who say they have a gun in their home admit that they do not lock their firearms away from their children. More must be done to prevent the tragic and needless deaths of our children by firearms. The President's Strategy addresses this problem by requiring gun dealers to sell a locking device with every handgun. Safety locks are inexpensive devices designed to secure a gun from unintended use. A 1991 General Accounting Office study found that one-third of the deaths resulting from accidental shootings could be prevented by a firearms safety device such as a trigger lock.