About a third of gun owners with children keep guns unlocked and loaded, study says

[babylonsister]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article157571114.html

June 22, 2017 12:00 PM
About a third of gun owners with children keep guns unlocked and loaded, study says
By Kate Irby


Forget Democrat or Republican – the most polarizing characteristic in the U.S. might be whether or not you own a gun.

snip//

While there are many areas of agreement on gun safety between those who own firearms and those who do not – not allowing the mentally ill to buy guns, preventing those on no-fly lists from buying firearms and talking to children about gun safety – an area of huge disagreement between owners and non-owners is how owners should store their guns.

“The majority of Americans who don’t own guns feel it is also essential for gun owners with children living in the home to keep their guns unloaded and in a separate spot from the ammunition,” the study says. “Gun owners disagree. Majorities say these measures are either important but not essential or not important, even in households with children.”

Even among gun owners who have children, 30 percent say they have at least one firearm that is both easily accessible and loaded in their homes. Past research has shown guns in a home are 22 times more likely to be used in an assault or homicide, an accidental shooting, a suicide or an attempted suicide than they are to be used for self-defense.

Gun owners and non-owners can’t even agree on whether gun violence is a major problem in the U.S. While 59 percent of non-owners describe it as a big problem only a third of gun owners say the same. There have been 206 mass shootings so far in 2017, according to Mass Shooting Tracker, which have killed a total of 290 people and injured hundreds of others. There were 477 mass shootings in 2016, which have killed 606 people.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article157571114.html

[phylny]

1. Not a surprise. I was at a house for an Early Intervention visit and said to the dad,

"You might want to put that gun on the end table away. Your daughter is now walking."

[Hoyt]

2. Can't be true, gun fanciers say they are all responsible gun owners. LMAO

Gungeoneers will be here shortly to say something like, "when not on your person, in the safe," or some such BS that they know isn't happening.

[Ilsa]

3. So that's why I get these regular facebook requests for prayers because

"little Bobbie Ray Dean Smith done shot hisself with his daddy's gun while his parents were fighting over that last beer."

Nobody in my circle knows Bobbie Ray Dean Smith, but they are passing it on anyway.

[gratuitous]

4. A post today at Balloon Juice was about a recent study

Here's a link to the post:

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2017/06/22/the-tree-of-liberty/#comments

In the post, you'll see the appalling statistic that of firearm deaths of children 14 years of age and younger, fully 91% of them happen in the United States. I have an idea for an area of policy where President Trump could make America great again (Hint: leading the rest of the world in childhood firearm deaths by a 9-1 margin isn't great).

[NutmegYankee]

5. It's unreasonable to expect a pistol in a pistol safe to be unloaded.

The fact that it's in the safe keeps the child out.