Gun violence prevention advocates urge Youngkin to ‘fight to keep our children safe’

Everytown for Gun Safety has released new data highlighting the rise in unintentional shootings by children.

The research showed that 2023 had the highest number of incidents, surpassing 400, since Everytown started tracking them in 2015. In 2023, data found the highest number of incidents (411), injuries (270) and total victims (427).

In Virginia, there were 83 unintentional shooting incidents by children from 2015 to 2023. In an average year in Virginia, 1,121 people die by guns and 1,911 people are wounded.

The Virginia General Assembly has sent dozens of gun safety bills to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk including a key measure to require the secure storage of firearms in homes where children or people legally prohibited from having firearms are present.

The governor has until April 8 to sign them into law or veto them.

“With several bills to increase secure firearm storage on Governor Youngkin’s desk awaiting his signature, this data makes it even more clear, he must sign these lifesaving measures into law,” said Amanda Faulkner, a volunteer with the Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Every death or injury resulting from an unintentional shooting is preventable and we have the solutions to keep guns out of the hands of children, one of which is secure storage. If Governor Youngkin wants to join us in the fight to keep our children safe, he must sign these bills into law.”

Youngkin failed to sign a bill earlier this month that would have required school boards to annually notify parents about the importance of securely storing firearms.

Children and gun violence key findings

• The two age groups most likely to unintentionally shoot themself or others are high schoolers between the ages of 14 and 17, followed by preschoolers ages five and younger.
• The victims of shootings by children are most often also children. Over nine in 10 of those wounded or killed in unintentional shootings by children were also under 18 years old.
• Nearly one in every three unintentional shooters were five years old and younger. Over one thousand toddlers and preschoolers since 2015 have come upon a loaded firearm and shot themself or someone else.
• When children unintentionally shoot another person, the victim is most often a sibling or a friend.
• More than seven in 10 unintentional child shootings occur in or around homes.
• Unintentional shootings occur most frequently at times when children are likely to be home: over the weekend and in the summer.
• Handguns account for the bulk of gun types accessed by children in unintentional shootings.
• The states with the highest rates of unintentional shootings by children — Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, and Alabama — have weak or no firearm storage laws, while the states with the lowest rates all have storage laws — Rhode Island, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and California.

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, Everytown said in a news release.