We occasionally read or hear about accidental gun deaths among Americans in our media. The fact is that a few instances of accidental deaths due to firearms do occur in Canada, but no where near the numbers recorded in the U.S. Most Canadian gun-related fatalities or injuries are due to hunting mishaps for example, especially since the country has far fewer gun owners than what you see in the States. Some of the American stories are nevertheless horrific. There was one about an infant child who found a small revolver in her mother’s purse and accidentally fatally shot the mother. Of course, there are several stories of members of a household shooting another member, sometimes mistakenly suspecting a night time intruder in their home.
Overall, there were close to 40,000 deaths from firearms in the U.S. in 2018. Sixty-one percent of deaths from firearms in the U.S. are suicides. That same year, 24,432 people in the U.S. died by firearm suicide. Accidental gun deaths accounted for 1% (458) of total gun-related deaths in the U.S. in 2018. Thus far in 2020, there have been unintentional recorded shootings by over 220 children. This has resulted in 92 deaths and 135 injuries. Most unintentional firearm-related deaths among children occur in or around the home; 50 percent at the home of the victim, and 40 percent at the home of a friend or relative. It is estimated that there are roughly 430 unintentional firearm fatalities in the U.S. per year. The rate is highest for older children to young adults, ages 10 to 29, and the vast majority of the victims are male. These numbers do not reflect the accidental gun-related injuries which can be life threatening and life changing. These numbers also do not reflect the consequences of stolen guns being used in crimes.
Gun-related deaths are tragic, accidental gun-related deaths are even more tragic especially when they involve children. If one has to have guns around the home, then one needs to employ numerous precautions in order to keep them away from younger household members. Keeping a loaded gun in one’s unlocked dresser or kitchen cabinet is careless and unsafe. In Canada, registered gun owners are required by law to first separate ammunition physically from where a gun is stored or in a secure place with the unloaded gun. Secondly, guns are to be rendered inoperable by means of a secure locking device or the removal of the bolt or bolt-carrier. Finally, the gun itself is to be stored in a locked container, gun rack or safe, preferably with a guarded combination. The idea is that that the storage location is constructed so that it cannot readily be broken open or into.
The careless storage and use of weapons around the home is even more of a concern right now that many families and their children are isolating due to COVID-19. The first rule of parenting is to protect their children. One accidental death is far too many. Remember, the data does not include hospitalized cases of injury due to firearms, composite statistics which are not gathered by agencies. Whether or not one is a proponent of gun control doesn’t matter when it comes to the unsafe storage and use of guns. The numbers speak for themselves, but each number represents an avoidable death or injury. Indeed, one extensive American study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that guns kept in homes are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal accidental shooting, criminal assault, or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defence.
FROLITICKS 
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