Originally appeared in Newsletter Vol. x, No. y, December 1999

Violent death among children has been linked to firearms kept in the home in several important new studies and reports. A study from the Harvard School of Public Health published in the February 2002 issue of The Journal of Trauma, found that in states and regions with higher levels of household firearm ownership, many more children are dying from homicide, suicide and gun accidents. Large differences exist in rates of violent death of children between states that have permissive gun control laws versus those with strict ones. The report further states that the elevated rates cannot be explained by differences in levels of poverty, education, or urbanization. This study focused on children aged 5 to 14, and compared data across all 50 states over a 10-year period (1988-1997). See exact data and tables from the study at www.jtrauma.com.

Matthew Miller, M.D., ScD, leading author of the study, said: "In states with more guns, more children are dying. They are dying in suicides, in homicides, and in gun accidents. This finding is completely contrary to the notion that guns are protecting our children."

U.S. children aged 5 to 14 are far more likely to be murdered, commit suicide, and die from gun accidents than children in other developed countries. This grim fact is consistent with the association between gun ownership and children's violent death and the higher U.S. level of private firearm ownership than in other developed nations. In the U.S. for that age group, death from firearms is the third leading cause of mortality following motor vehicle crashes and cancer.

The Children's Defense Fund's annual report (1/4/2002) recently stated that more young Americans are killed by guns than cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma and HIV/AIDS combined. Another new study by researchers at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL (Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, December 2001) found that approximately 800 children, younger than 10 years old, are shot each year, often unintentionally, by someone they know, and that there are four to five kids who sustain a nonfatal wound for each firearm fatality. Dr. Elizabeth C. Powell said, "It is essential that children and youth not have access to firearms." The study found that the highest rate of injury from guns was among adolescents aged 15 to 19, and in most cases, the injuries took place on the weekends and at home. Based on the study's findings, the researchers recommended more initiatives aimed at reducing access to guns at home.

Educating Parents About Gun Safety Can Be Critical to the Safety of Children

"Parents do a reasonable good job of making their homes safe for children, with one major exception: they don't lock their guns where children can't get them," said Dr. Tamera Coyne-Beasley, lead author of a University of North Carolina study (Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, June 2001) The study found that community-based counseling programs could be effective in teaching parents how to store guns safely. "The safest way to avoid a firearm injury in the home is to remove guns from the home. If you must keep a gun at home, the safest thing to do is to unload the gun and keep it locked up," said Coyne-Beasley.

Participants in the North Carolina study received free gun locks, a review of gun-safety information, and a counseling session, and were contacted six months to one year later. After the program 77% kept their guns in a locked compartment compared with 48% initially. In addition, 88% of gun owners with children said they had asked friends and family how they stored their guns, compared with 28% initially. Researchers recommend adult counseling or education to teach parents about gun hazards, as there are guns in 40 to 50 percent of American homes.

To assist in community parent education, the Children's Defense Fund has just released the "Protect Children Instead of Guns: Community Action Toolkit," a comprehensive user-friendly guide to help individuals take action to make communities safer. The CDF has released its annual data report on child and teen gun violence in the U.S., which indicates that for the first time since 1988, the number of victims has dropped below 4000, which equals just over 10 children every day. Visit their website at www.childrensdefense.org to download a free on-line version of the annual data report and/or the toolkit.

The Santa Barbara Coalition Against Gun Violence has focused on community awareness since 1996. Initially, we gave general slide show/discussion presentations before many community groups alerting them to the problems of gun violence in the U.S. In 1999, the Coalition began a program of parent education, which focuses particularly on the dangers of guns in the home and guidelines for safeguarding children, utilizing a video and encouraging family and neighborhood dialogue. This presentation is available to organizations and groups. Contact the Coalition at (805) 564-6803.

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