"Safe Storage Laws" require the safe storage of guns around children. These laws are also known as Child Access Prevention or "CAP" laws.

These laws make adults criminally liable if a child obtains their improperly stored guns and uses them to commit violence. Seventeen states have enacted such safe storage or CAP laws.

• Safe storage laws encourage gun-owning families to store their guns in a way that protects their children from accidentally shooting themselves or others, using their parents' gun to commit suicide, which is a leading cause of youth mortality.
   
• There is some evidence that passage of safe storage laws is associated with a reduction in accidental firearm deaths among children under 14.
  
  SOURCE: CUMMINGS ET AL., 1997

• Safe storage laws are not necessary since accidental child firearm deaths represent such a small fraction of all gun deaths (about 1.5 percent).
   
• The passage of safe storage laws will not reduce firearm deaths and injuries but rather impair people's ability to use guns inself-defense.
   
• The actual prosecution of parents whose child uses their parents' gun to kill himself or herself or another child is rare. Therefore they cannot be considered a deterrent.

• More than three-quarters of persons polled support making gun owners liable if a child misuses an improperly stored gun.
  
  SOURCE: SMITH, 2000
   

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 Safety Gear
You should always wear equipment to protect your eyes and ears when firearms are discharged, whether you are shooting or simply observing.