Children getting hold of guns and injuring or killing themselves is something that, as a society, we should not tolerate, whether it's intentional or not. Our duty as adults is, at least in part, to protect children. Not just ours, either. We protect children, even if they're not our responsibility. It's why adults who have never seen a given kid before will jump into a raging river to try and save a child's life.

It's just part of who we are.

So I have no issue with a safety panel in Kentucky identifying improper gun storage as an issue that needs to be addressed.

I've got major issues, however, with where they went in their suggestions.

An increase in firearm-related injuries and deaths among children over the past five years has led public safety experts in Kentucky to recommend legal steps be taken to curb the rising trend.

In the 2023 annual report from the state Justice and Public Safety Cabinet published on December 1, research panel members found that 31 children from birth to age 12 died from “firearm-related incidents” from the 2018 to 2022 fiscal years.

This, of course, includes suicides and homicides due to criminal action, not just negligent actions.

Now, trying to prevent suicides is a worthy goal, as is preventing accidents. However, we need to separate out those from the incidents where an individual intentionally fires a gun and kills a child, whether the child was a target or not. Those are very different things, and considering where they're going, it's an important distinction.

Panel experts said the best prevention of gun use among children is secure storage that removes access. “In all suicide by firearm cases reviewed, the Panel identified unsafe access to firearms as a risk factor.”

While Kentucky has “permitless carry” gun license laws, and while KPIRC and the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet said those laws aren’t expected to change soon despite the data shown in the report, experts say there are legislative steps that can be taken in the form of Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws, which are enforced in 26 states across the US.

Now, I agree that unsafe access to guns is a problem and I have no issue with looking at ways to prevent that from happening.

But jumping right to mandatory storage laws--here marketed under the "Child Access Prevention" euphemism--isn't the leap people want to think it is.

First, let's understand that there are so many laws on the books here and now that no one can keep up with them all. No one who isn't involved in the legal system in some way even bothers to try.

So a law requiring guns to be locked up isn't likely to be followed by a large number of people simply out of ignorance. Then we have those who are so irresponsible that they wouldn't do it even if they knew it was required.

Instead, a more logical place to start is with education. 

A lot of people are unaware of the danger. They don't secure their guns because they're largely oblivious to the issues. Education can help change that, especially if you don't relegate it just to child access. If you include gun theft as a possible outcome of not securing a firearm properly, then even those who figure their child would never do such a thing.

Then people are still free to make the correct determination for their families and their freedom is preserved, but the issue is being addressed. Especially since there are children who aren't remotely suicidal but may need access to guns to prevent harm to themselves or others in the home, which has happened more than a couple of times.

Couple that with what several states have considered previously, namely tax credits for gun safe purchases, and you've got a stronger recipe for dealing with child injuries from negligent storage practices.

However, since many of those fatalities are actually the result of criminal action, you shouldn't be overly surprised if the numbers don't dip nearly as much as some might think.