New CDC Report Uplifts Secure Firearm Storage as Means to Reduce Gun Access by Children, Everytown for Gun Safety Responds 

CDC Data Finds Concerning Rates of Loaded, Unsecured Firearms in Homes Across Eight States

NEW YORK – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today released new data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System indicating secure firearm storage might help reduce access by children or other unauthorized users and the related risk for injury or death. The report also found concerning rates of loaded, unsecured firearms in homes across the eight states surveyed. Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statements in response:

“Roughly once every day in the United States, a child under the age of 18 gains access to a loaded gun and unintentionally shoots themself or someone else. But there is no such thing as an accidental shooting by a child – the onus to store guns securely and keep them out of reach of children is always on adults,” said Sarah Burd-Sharps, Senior Director of Research at Everytown for Gun Safety. “Today’s CDC report demonstrates clearly that far too many gun owners are failing to properly secure their firearms. The CDC must make these firearm storage questions mandatory across all 50 states to ensure our communities have the targeted information we need to develop public education campaigns and, ultimately, save kids’ lives.”

“Today’s CDC report underscores the immediate need for all states to implement secure storage laws. As a pediatrician, I’ve witnessed first-hand the devastating impacts of gun violence on kids; and as a mom, the ceaseless headlines about unintentional shootings by children gut me,” said Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, pediatric firearm injury expert and senior advisor at Everytown for Gun Safety. “These are preventable injuries and deaths – it is up to every gun owner to securely store their firearms and ensure kids cannot access deadly weapons.”

“This report serves as a sobering reminder for why I do this work and why I won’t allow the death of my son, JaJuan, to be in vain,” said Julvonnia McDowell, a Moms Demand Action volunteer from Atlanta whose son, JaJuan, was shot and killed in 2016 by another teen playing with an unsecured firearm. “Too many mothers share my pain. Too many families share an empty chair at the kitchen table because an adult failed to securely store a firearm. If the gun that killed my son was securely stored–that means unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition–he’d still be alive today. Secure storage saves lives, it’s that simple.”

The CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is an annual, mandatory state-based survey that collects data on health risk factors and sociodemographic characteristics from adults in all 50 states. BRFSS includes core questions for all states, questions added by individual states, and optional modules, including the firearm safety module. Today’s report is based on the eight states which chose to administer the firearm module during 2021 and 2022. Key findings include:

• Across the eight states surveyed, 20% (Minnesota) to 44% (North Carolina) reported that a firearm was stored loaded in or around the home.
• Roughly half of those with a loaded firearm reported that at least one of their loaded firearms was stored unlocked, ranging from 49% (Ohio) to 59% (Alaska).
• Among those with a loaded firearm and a child (17 or younger) in the home, 25% (Ohio) to 41% (Alaska) stored it unlocked. 
• Across all 8 states, approximately half of elderly respondents (65 and older) with a loaded firearm reported that the loaded firearm was stored unlocked, ranging from 59% (New Mexico) to 73% (Oklahoma).

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund recently released new data highlighting the devastating rise in unintentional shootings by children, finding that 2023 had the highest number of incidents since Everytown started tracking them in 2015. This one-of-a-kind dataset allows us to identify solutions. Knowing that these shootings largely occur in and around homes and on weekends and over the summer—when children are likely to be home—leads us to secure firearm storage as a critical answer. 

Unintentional shootings by children are not accidents. They are almost always preventable with secure firearm storage practices, awareness, and policies. These avoidable tragedies cause physical and emotional suffering that persists far beyond the initial incident and leave scars on people far beyond the immediate families of those involved. 

Research shows the most effective way to prevent an unintentional shooting is to make sure firearms are stored as securely as possible. That means unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition. Firearms are not stored securely when they’re placed in an unlocked dresser or nightstand drawer, under a couch cushion, mattress, or pillow, in an unlocked closet, on a high shelf or on top of the refrigerator. 

Be SMART, a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, helps parents and other adults normalize conversations about gun safety and take responsible actions that can prevent child gun deaths and injuries, youth suicide, and gunfire on school grounds. 

The program encourages parents and adults to: 

• Secure all guns in their home and vehicles
• Model responsible behavior around guns
• Ask about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes
• Recognize the role of guns in suicide
• Tell your peers to be SMART

Gun owners must store all of their guns securely at all times; parents need to ask about guns and gun storage at any home their children will be visiting; schools, the medical community, gun shops and gun storage device sellers, and others play a vital role in educating the community about secure gun storage; and community members need to support laws that research has shown are effective in holding adults accountable for failing to store their firearms securely. Read more on solutions to this devastating trend here. For more information on secure firearm storage and the most effective ways to protect children from unsecured firearms, visit BeSMARTforkids.org.