ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Summer is statistically one of the deadliest seasons for gun violence, and this week ranks among the worst of the year for accidental shootings and homicides.
Nearly 7 million children in this country live in a home with at least one unsecured firearm, according to Brady United. With kids now home on summer break, there’s a big push to change that.
During the pandemic, a record number of people applied for pistol permits both in the Rochester region and nationally. Gun sales have remained strong since.
That’s why Brady United is running PSAs across New York waring gun owners about the danger of leaving firearms unsecured.
According to the National Firearm Survey, one in every 10 kids nationally live in a home with at least one gun that is unlocked and loaded.
“Gun violence is tragically the number one killer of our kids and actually we’re entering a week in which we see typically a huge spike in death and injury of children with firearms in the home because so many kids are getting let out of school,” says Kris Brown, the director of Brady United.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans addressed the issue just last summer. “This past year we’ve had many young people in the City of Rochester who have had self-inflicted gunshot wounds, thankfully none of them have died but a couple of inches to the right or left and things could have been different,” Evans said.
An average of 43 guns are stolen from vehicles every year in Monroe County, and 80% of the time, the car was unlocked. Every year, on average, another 58 guns are stolen from homes during burglaries and more than 85% of the time, those guns weren’t stored in safes.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department has been working with trauma teams at Strong Hospital for the past few years to educate the community about safe storage.
For the next few weeks, Brady United is running PSAs across New York with stories from real people who were involved in gun incidents.
“We want to facilitate conversations with people about this issue and really heighten the awareness not just of people with firearms in the home but those who may not have firearms in the home so we can educate each other about why unsecured firearms pose such risk,” Brown said. The conversation should be simple: Is there a gun in the house? If so, is it locked, unloaded, and stored away from ammo?
When someone applies for or makes a change to their pistol permit in Monroe County, they get information on all the risks associated with gun ownership and resources on where they can get locks, safes or storage cabinets.
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