Child & Teen Gun Safety
Child & Teen Gun Safety
What is the problem?
Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens (ages 0 to 19) in the United States. Every year, 16,000 children and teens are shot and killed or wounded and approximately 3 million are exposed to gun violence.
Children and teens in the U.S. are impacted by gun violence in all its forms. Exposure to gun violence has an impact on the psychological and mental well-being of children and teens and affects their school performance, among other factors. When homes, neighborhoods, and schools are not safe from gun violence, entire generations of American children are affected.
What are the solutions?
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Secure Gun Storage
Gun owners can make their homes and communities safer by storing their guns securely. This means storing them locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition. Securing firearms protects children and adults by preventing unintentional shootings and gun suicides.
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Extreme Risk Laws
When a person is in crisis and considering harming themselves or others, family members and law enforcement are often the first people to see the warning signs. Extreme Risk laws, sometimes referred to as “Red Flag” laws, allow loved ones or law enforcement to intervene by petitioning a court for an order to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing guns.
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Smart Guns and Gun Safety Features
A personalized—or “smart”—gun is a firearm that employs authorized-use technology, like the thumb scan or passcode available on many smartphones, to turn stolen guns and guns accessed by children into harmless pieces of steel. If widely implemented, it would be a game-changer for keeping guns out of the hands of children and criminals.
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Reconsider Active Shooter Drills
95% of American public schools drill students on lockdown procedures. Yet, there is almost no research affirming the value of these drills for preventing school shootings or protecting the school community when shootings do occur.
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Stop Arming Teachers
To prevent tragedies we must implement strong school safety solutions, but arming teachers is not one of them. School shootings are chaotic and in these moments of chaos, we cannot ask teachers to stop a shooter, potentially a former student.
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Threat Identification and Assessment Programs in Schools
The most important thing that schools can do to prevent active shooter incidents—and gun violence overall—is to intervene before a person commits an act of violence. Threat assessment and identification programs allow schools to intervene to address potential violent behavior.
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Background Checks on All Gun Sales
Background checks are the foundation of any comprehensive gun violence prevention strategy. Current federal law requires that background checks be conducted whenever a person attempts to buy a gun from a licensed gun dealer. This is to ensure that the buyer is not legally prohibited from having the gun.
Featured Resources
The Rise of Firearm Suicide among Young Americans
Death by suicide is a significant public health problem that claims the lives of thousands of young people in the US each year.
Not An Accident
There have been at least 135 unintentional shootings by children in 2020, resulting in 49 deaths and 90 injuries.
Unload, Lock, and Separate: Secure Storage Practices to Reduce Gun Violence
The Impact of Gun Violence on Children and Teens
All Resources
Child & Teen Gun Safety
All Resources
Gunfire on School Grounds
Everytown for Gun Safety started tracking incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2013 to gain a better understanding of how often childre
Data Tracker
Gun Violence in America
We have gathered the most comprehensive, publicly available data to illustrate the magnitude of everyday gun violence.
Report
Keeping Our Schools Safe: A Plan for Preventing Mass Shootings and Ending All Gun Violence in American Schools
The failure of our leaders to address the root causes of school gun violence is having lasting consequences for millions of children.
Report
Guns on Campus
The National Rifle Association (NRA) began its push to force colleges and universities to allow guns on campus following multiple high-profile campus shootings. The NRA…
Fact Sheet
A Nation of Survivors: The Toll of Gun Violence in America
“The fact is gun violence has taken so many lives. And not just in Florida or D.C. or Chicago. Gun violence is everywhere and, as…
Report