Gun Safety
About 35 percent of U.S. homes have at least one gun. Nearly all unintentional childhood shooting deaths occur in or around the home — either in the gun owner’s home or a friend’s home. To ensure the safest environment for your children and family, do not keep a gun in your home.
Gun safety tips
If you must keep a gun at home, please follow these safety tips
- Always store a gun unloaded.
- Lock up bullets and guns in separate places, and hide the keys or combination.
- Store keys for the gun and the ammunition in a different area from where you store household keys. Keep the keys out of reach of children.
- Lock up gun-cleaning supplies, which are often poisonous.
- Before your child goes to a friend’s home to play, ask the other parents if there is a gun in their home. If so, ask how and where it is stored.
- Always practice gun safety. Emphasize to children that guns are not toys, and that they should never play with them.
- Never keep a gun in the home if someone in your household has a history of depression or threatens suicide.
Teach your child what to do if he encounters a gun
- Move away and stay away from the gun — it is dangerous
- Never touch or play with a gun
- Tell an adult immediately if you see a gun
Download our gun safety flyer
Our gun safety flyer is available for download in multiple languages: