Accidents or Preventable? Stop calling them Accidents
Another child has been injured in what is often labeled as an “accidental shooting.” This time, it was a 3-year-old. ("Osceola child, 3, accidentally shoots self," Orlando Sentinel, April 11, 2026.)
When a child gains access to a loaded firearm and pulls the trigger, it is not random or unavoidable—it is a failure of prevention. These are preventable shootings, and the language we use matters because it shapes what we accept.
Research shows that securely stored firearms reduce the risk of self-inflicted injury by 78% and unintentional injury by 85%. The solution is simple, proven, and accessible.
Yet nearly 30 million U.S. children live in homes with firearms, and 4.6 million live where at least one is loaded and unlocked. That is not an accident waiting to happen, it is a risk we are choosing to tolerate.
It is easier to secure a firearm than to bulletproof our children.
There are no federal safe storage standards. Some states, like Florida, require firearms to be locked when minors could access them, yet preventable shootings persist. Meanwhile, countries like Canada—where child and teen firearm deaths are far lower—mandate locked, unloaded storage with ammunition secured separately.
This is not about politics. It is about prevention.
We do not accept preventable injuries in the workplace, and we should not accept them here. Safe storage is a simple step that reduces risk without removing rights.
A child should never have access to a loaded firearm. When it happens, it is not beyond our control—it is a failure to act on what we know works.
Secure the firearm. Protect the child.