Mike Levin: “according to a report last year by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, teenagers and children are involved in…”

“according to a report last year by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, teenagers and children are involved in more than 10,000 accidental shootings in which close to 800 people die each year. Further, about 1,500 children age 14 and under are treated in hospital emergency rooms for unintentional firearm injuries per year. About 38 percent of them have injuries severe enough to require hospitalization. We can do more to reduce the number of these tragedies, the vast majority of which could be prevented if safe gun storage techniques were more widely practiced. A study released Tuesday by researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reportedly the largest of its kind ever carried out, analyzed the prevalence of firearms in homes and the storage practices of gun owners. Researchers analyzed survey results from more than 240,000 randomly selected households in all 50 States and the District of Colombia. While the rates of gun ownership and the storage practices vary widely from State to State, the CDC researchers found that nearly a third of households in the U.S. have firearms. According to the study, in 18 different States more than 10 percent of households contain loaded firearms. In one State, the number is higher than 19 percent. In addition, in 23 different States more than 5 percent of households keep firearms unlocked and loaded. The most startling statistic revealed by researchers is that 1.69 million children in the U.S.…”