[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 18 (Thursday, February 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S1603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SAFE GUN STORAGE SAVES LIVES

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the debate on how to most effectively 
combat gun violence frequently centers on the ability of criminals to 
access dangerous firearms. Today, I would like to call my colleagues' 
attention to another important issue in our fight against gun violence: 
the ability of our teenagers and children to access firearms. Safe 
storage and child access prevention laws are critical steps as we seek 
to reduce the occurrence of accidental shootings and suicides involving 
guns. Such tragedies have claimed the lives of thousands of young 
people and destroyed families even though many of these occurrences 
could have been prevented by common sense legislation.
  According to a Journal of the American Medical Association study 
released in 2001, suicide is the third-leading cause of death among 
youth aged 10 to 19. Between 1976 and 2001, the period of the study, 
nearly 40,000 youth aged 14 to 20 committed suicide using a gun. The 
study also found that there was a significant reduction in youth 
suicide rates in States that had child access prevention laws. Unlike 
suicide attempts using other methods, suicide attempts with guns are 
nearly always fatal. These children get no second chance.
  The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence reported in 2004 that 
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. About 38 percent of them have 
injuries severe enough to require hospitalization. Blocking 
unsupervised access to loaded guns is the key to preventing these 
occurrences.
  A study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association found that the risk of unintentional shooting or suicide by 
minors using a gun can be significantly reduced by adopting responsible 
gun safety measures. According to the study, when ammunition in the 
home is locked up, the risk of such injuries is reduced by 61 percent. 
Simply storing ammunition separately from the gun reduces such 
occurrences by more than 50 percent.
  During the 108th Congress, I joined with 69 of my colleagues in 
voting for Senator Boxer's trigger lock amendment. Senator Boxer's 
amendment would have required that all handguns sold by a dealer come 
with a child safety device, such as a lock, a lock box, or technology 
built into the gun itself that would increase the security of the 
weapon while in storage. The underlying gun industry immunity bill to 
which this amendment was attached was later defeated in the Senate, but 
the need and support for this legislation is clear. In light of the 
bipartisan support for this trigger lock amendment during the last 
Congress, I am hopeful that the 109th Congress will take up and pass 
common sense trigger lock legislation.
  While the problems of youth suicide and accidental shooting cannot be 
legislated away, trigger locks and other sensible gun safety measures 
can help limit children's access to firearms. It is clear that reducing 
our kids' access to guns can save lives. The time has come to support 
the efforts of States who have enacted common sense child access 
prevention laws and make responsible storage of firearms standard 
around the Nation.

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