New attempts to allow hidden loaded guns in Wisconsin communities will increase the exposure of children to handguns by permitting concealed weapons to be carried into many places where children play and learn, including day care centers, churches, little league games and the many private, non-profit organizations that provide direct services to children and youth.
The study of childhood brain development confirms that young children are naturally curious and that adolescents (up to age 24) can be impulsive. Allowing the carrying of concealed weapons will inevitably result in increased access of children and adolescents to loaded handguns when they are brought home, left in cars, or in a jacket hanging in a closet or on the back of a chair. The potential consequence of this increased access to guns is therefore very serious:
- Currently in Wisconsin, approximately five unintentional childhood deaths due to firearms occur annually. For every firearm-related death, there are between four and five nonfatal gun-related injuries.Last year, 55 kids were rushed to the emergency room for firearm related accidents. Unfortunately, a typical scenario is that of an unsupervised young child discovering a loaded handgun and killing or injuring himself or a playmate while exploring the new “toy”. In a recent study, more than three fourths of 8 to 12 year old boys who found a real handgun in a drawer handled the weapon. Approximately half of them pulled the trigger, despite having had gun safety instruction at some time prior to the study. (Jackman GA, Farah MM, Kellermann AL, Simon HK. Seeing is believing: What do boys do when they find a real gun? Pediatrics. 2001;107:1247-1250
- Data from the Medical College of Wisconsin shows that about 50 adolescents commit suicide in Wisconsin each year, 60 percent of them with firearms, primarily handguns. Suicide by adolescents is most often an impulsive act, reflecting the volatile emotions in this stage of life. Twenty percent of Wisconsin high school students admit to having seriously considered suicide, and nine percent claim to have attempted it. Suicide attempts involving firearms are successful 91 percent of the time, denying a chance to reconsider. (Karlson TA, Hargarten SW. Reducing Firearm Injury and Death: A Public Health Sourcebook on Guns. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press; 1997.)
- In 2008, the most current year for which data is available, 49 Wisconsin children and adolescents were victims of firearm-related homicide. Sadly, firearm-related homicide is the leading cause of death for African-American males from 15 to 19 years of age in Wisconsin and nationally. Teenage boys in all racial and ethnic groups are more likely to die from gunshot wounds than from all natural causes combined
- Carrying of concealed weapons will increase opportunities for theft and subsequent misuse of handguns, especially by children and youth. Family and friends are the primary sources of guns for young people.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that the best way to keep children safe from firearm injury is to not have guns in the home.http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;105/4/888.pdf. Given what we know about the deadly combination of handguns and children; increasing children’s access to guns, just doesn’t make sense.