Most parents are concerned about the safety of their children: they will provide them with a safe environment, including using car seats, seat belts, life preservers, bicycle helmets and gates on stairs, etc. Yet, too many parents forget about gun safety.

Having a gun in your home, especially if it is not stored properly, can be a significant risk factor for injury and death in children. In fact, firearm related injuries are a leading cause of death in children, and include deaths from unintentional injuries, homicide and suicide.

Here are some startling statistics about guns and children:

n In 2002, firearms surpassed motor vehicles as the number one cause of brain injury fatalities in the United States.

n It is estimated that every two hours in the U.S., someone’s child is killed with a loaded gun.

n It is estimated that half of all American households have firearms.

n Every day, 14 American children under the age of 20 are killed and many more are wounded by guns.

n It costs more than $14,000 to treat each child wounded by gunfire-- enough to pay for a full year at a private college.

People buy guns for recreational purposes (hunting, skeet shooting, etc), but many guns are bought for home protection. Whatever the reason, guns should be stored properly and away from children. If you have a gun:

n Always keep your gun unloaded and locked up.

n Lock and store bullets in a separate location.

n Make sure children don’t have access to the keys.

n Ask police for the advice on safe storage and gun locks.

n Talk to your children about the risk of gun injury outside the home and places where they may visit and play.

An estimated 30 percent of all unintentional shootings could be prevented by the presence of safety features such as trigger locks and loading indicators, but American made guns are not subject to federal safety standards like other consumer products such as automobiles, aspirin bottles and children’s toys.

Gun stores and gun magazines have lots of useful security products for sale. A trigger lock will be good enough for most people (but never use one on a loaded gun). There are also locks which extend a long rod down the barrel or which go through the action. One of those plastic-coated bicycle locking cables can be threaded through the receiver and out the ejection port of many magazine-fed guns. You could even take the gun apart and put a padlock through a hole in one of the important pieces to prevent it from being put back together.

Be a responsible gun owner — make sure your firearms are away from children and are stored properly.

For more information about gun safety or trigger locks, contact your local police department or sheriff’s office.