Child access prevention law

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A child access prevention law (often abbreviated CAP law; also sometimes called a safe storage law) makes it illegal for an adult to keep a gun in a place and manner so that a child can easily access and fire it. Proponents of these laws, such as the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in the United States, argue that they are effective at reducing accidental gun deaths among children, since they reduce accessibility and thereby risk. The National Rifle Association of America has lobbied against such laws, arguing that they are ineffective and infringe on the rights of gun owners to protect their homes. [1] [2]

Contents

United Kingdom

Since the introduction of licensing with the Firearms Act 1968, it has been a condition of firearm and shotgun certificates that licensed firearms must be securely stored prevent access or theft by unlicensed individuals, including children.

This did not affect air rifles and air pistols which are mostly unlicensed. Section 46 of the Crime and Security Act 2010 imposed a new duty on owners of airguns to take reasonable precautions to prevent persons under the age of eighteen from accessing that airgun. [3] [4]

United States of America

Federal Laws

There is no federal CAP law, nor does federal law require the safe storage of guns. [5]

However, according to Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, it is unlawful for any licensed gun carrier to transfer firearms without safe storage. [5] The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 makes it illegal for unauthorized individuals to carry firearms into an area that, to their knowledge, is a school zone. This law includes public and private elementary and high schools and non-private property up to 1000 feet of a school. A case in 2007, United States v Nieves-Castaño, found Nieves guilty for having a firearm in her apartment, a public housing project, which was within a 1000 feet of a school. If found guilty, individuals face fines up to $5000, or imprisonment of up to five years. Guilty individuals are also prohibited from purchasing firearms in the future. There have been attempts to repeal the act in 2007 and 2009 but these bills did not pass committee. The law does not however apply to private property, or individuals who are licensed to carry in the state where the school zone is located. The firearm can also be placed in a locked container or not be loaded.[ citation needed ]

State laws

Individual states decide what actions warrant criminal liability. As of 2019, 27 states and the District of Columbia have passed Child Access Prevention laws, [5] though 11 states require "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly" storing firearms to be criteria for criminal liability, rather than negligent storage. [5] [6] Four states (California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Maryland) have the most stringent CAP laws that impose criminal liability when a minor is merely likely to gain access to a gun that is negligently stored. [5] [6] On the other end of the spectrum, some states, such as Utah, only impose criminal liability when a minor is directly provided a gun by an adult. [5] In Massachusetts, all firearms are required to be stored using a locking device, [5] and allowing a child unsupervised access to a handgun can result in a $5,000 fine and/or 2.5 years in jail. [7]

Studies

A 1997 study found that CAP laws were associated with a 23% decrease in accidental shooting deaths among children younger than 15 years old. [8] A 2000 study found that Florida's CAP law appeared to have "significantly reduced unintentional firearm deaths to children", but that the similar laws that existed in 14 other states did not seem to have such an effect. At the time, only three states in the U.S., including Florida, allowed those who violated their state's CAP law to be prosecuted on felony charges. [9] A 2004 study found that CAP laws were associated with a "modest reduction in suicide rates among youth aged 14 to 17 years." [10] A 2006 study found that states with CAP laws experienced faster declines in accidental child firearm deaths than states without such laws. [11] A 2015 study found that these laws have no significant impact on unintentional gun deaths, but that states with such laws had lower rates of youth suicide. [12] Another study also points out that prevalence of guns might possibly affect suicide rates in general. [13] Some studies have also found that CAP laws are associated with lower rates of nonfatal gun injuries among children under the age of 18. [14] [15] A recent 2020 study differentiated between states with stronger CAP laws and states with weaker CAP laws and found that stronger CAP laws were associated with a 13% reduction in all shooting deaths among children younger than 15 years old, with a 15% reduction in homicides, a 12% reduction in suicides, and a 13% reduction in accidental deaths. [16]

A 2018 National Bureau of Economic Research paper found that CAP laws were associated with a 19 percent reduction in juvenile firearm-related homicides (while having no association with firearm-related homicides committed by adults or with non-firearm-related homicides committed by juveniles). [17] In contrast, a 2016 study found that these CAP laws were ineffective. [18]

A survey published by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimated that 54% of gun owners in the United States had unsafe storage of guns. Additionally, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has estimated that some 380,000 guns are stolen annually from gun owners in the United States. In a separate study, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimated that 18,394 guns were lost of stolen by licensed gun retailers. [19] According to the article on "child access prevention law", There are different level of laws that are enforced when it comes to CAP, but the highest and probably most severe one is the laws that inflict criminal liability when a firearm that wasn’t kept in a safely manner is gained access to by a child. The law says that if a gun that was negligently stored get used by a minor to injure or kill someone, the owner of the firearm will be responsible therefore he will be fined, put to prison, or even in some cases both. [20]

CAP laws, along with other strict firearm laws, are also associated with lower rates of unsafe gun storage among parents of preschool-age children. [21] These laws are not always applied whenever they could be, and sometimes minors are charged instead. [22]

In regard to the effects of CAP laws on schools, a study using data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey for 1993-2013 found that CAP laws lead to an 18.5% decrease in the rate of gun carrying. The study also found a 19% decrease in students being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. As July 2004, the US Secret Service and US Department of Education published a study examining 37 school shootings from 1974-2000 that found that in more than 65% of cases, the attacker got the gun from his or her own home or that of a relative. [23] However, the study finds no evidence of a link between CAP laws and a increased or decrease in school shootings. [24]

Opposition

Marion Hammer, the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) lobbyist who promoted stand-your-ground laws, created the Eddie Eagle GunSafe program in the late 1980s as a "superior alternative to negligent storage legislation, or laws meant to punish adults when children shoot themselves or someone else with an unsecured gun." [25] By 2016, according to the NRA, who "promotes the program to elementary schools around the country, and pushes state legislatures to pass laws that require schools to adopt the lesson", 28 million children had been gone through the Eddie Eagle program. In 2016, a NRA lobbyist testified against a safe storage bill in Tennessee, saying that the Eddie Eagle program was the best way "to reduce firearm-related accidents" regarding children. [25] However, some studies have found its effectiveness questionable. [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun safety</span> Study and practice of safe operation of firearms

Gun safety is the study and practice of using, transporting, storing and disposing of firearms and ammunition, including the training of gun users, the design of weapons, and formal and informal regulation of gun production, distribution, and usage, for the purpose of avoiding unintentional injury, illness, or death. This includes mishaps like accidental discharge, negligent discharge, and firearm malfunctions, as well as secondary risks like hearing loss, lead poisoning from bullets, and pollution from other hazardous materials in propellants and cartridges. There were 47,000 unintentional firearm deaths worldwide in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun control</span> Laws or policies that regulate firearms

Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School shooting</span> Event in which gun violence happens at a school

A school shooting is an armed attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of a firearm. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple casualties. The phenomenon is most widespread in the United States, which has the highest number of school-related shootings, although school shootings have taken place elsewhere in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act</span> Mandate for background checks on firearm purchasers in the U.S.

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, often referred to as the Brady Act or the Brady Bill, is an Act of the United States Congress that mandated federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States, and imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases, until the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was implemented in 1998. The act was appended to the end of Section 922 of title 18, United States Code. The intention of the act was to prevent persons with previous serious convictions from purchasing firearms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun politics in the United States</span> Political concern

Gun politics is defined in the United States by two primary opposing ideologies about civilian gun ownership. Those who advocate for gun control support increased regulation of gun ownership; those who advocate for gun rights oppose increased restriction of gun ownership. These groups often disagree on the interpretation of laws and court cases related to firearms and of the effectiveness of firearms regulation on crime and public safety. There is also a well-known gender gap when it comes to gun control, and many argue that a possible explanation for this is authoritarianism. It was estimated, in 2018, that U.S. civilians own 393 million firearms, and that 40% to 42% of the households in the country have at least one gun. However, record gun sales followed in the following years. The U.S. has by far the highest estimated number of guns per capita in the world, at 120.5 guns for every 100 people.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people in the United States from the ages of 10 to 56.

Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon in public in a concealed manner, either on one's person or in close proximity. CCW is often practiced as a means of self-defense. Every state in the United States allows for concealed carry of a handgun either permitless or with a permit, although the difficulty in obtaining a permit varies per jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide methods</span> Means by which a person dies by suicide

A suicide method is any means by which a person may choose to end their lives. Suicide attempts do not always result in death, and a non-fatal suicide attempt can leave the person with serious physical injuries, long-term health problems, and brain damage.

The Violence Policy Center (VPC) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Eagle</span> Program and character developed by the National Rifle Association of America

The Eddie Eagle GunSafe program and its namesake character were developed by the National Rifle Association for children who are generally considered too young to be allowed to handle firearms. While maturity levels vary, the Eddie Eagle program is intended for children of any age from pre-school through third grade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun violence in the United States</span>

Gun violence results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually in the United States. Gun violence became the leading cause of death for children 19 and younger for the first time in 2020 and by 2022, it was responsible for about 100 daily fatalities and hundreds of daily injuries. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available as of 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics reports 38,390 deaths by firearm, of which 24,432 were by suicide. The rate of firearm deaths per 100,000 people rose from 10.3 per 100,000 in 1999 to 12 per 100,000 in 2017, with 109 people dying per day or about 14,542 homicides in total, being 11.9 per 100,000 in 2018. In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicides, and 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the U.S. In 2010, 358 murders were reported involving a rifle while 6,009 were reported involving a handgun; another 1,939 were reported with an unspecified type of firearm. In 2011, a total of 478,400 fatal and nonfatal violent crimes were committed with a firearm. Gun crimes are covered by 18 USC 922 and 18 USC 924, which are the principal federal firearm statutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun violence</span> Method of violence

Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, and suicide, or attempted suicide, depending on jurisdiction. Non-criminal violence includes accidental or unintentional injury and death. Also generally included in gun violence statistics are military or para-military activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gun ownership</span> Status of owning a firearm

In 2018, the Small Arms Survey reported that there are over one billion small arms distributed globally, of which 857 million are in civilian hands. The survey stated that U.S. civilians account for an estimated 393 million of the worldwide total of civilian held firearms, or about 120.5 firearms for every 100 U.S. residents.

The State of Texas is considered to have some of the most relaxed gun laws in the United States. Public concerns over gun control in Texas have increased in recent years as Mexican drug cartels continue to commit violent crimes closer to Texas' stretch of the Mexico–United States border. They have also increased due to the number of incidents, including misuse of firearms stolen from other sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defensive gun use</span> Use or presentation of a firearm for self-defense, defense of others or protecting property

Defensive gun use (DGU) is the use or presentation of a firearm for self-defense, defense of others or, in some cases, protecting property. The frequency of incidents involving DGU, and their effectiveness in providing safety and reducing crime is a controversial issue in gun politics and criminology, chiefly in the United States. Different authors and studies employ different criteria for what constitutes a defensive gun use which leads to controversy in comparing statistical results. Perceptions of defensive gun use are recurring themes in discussions over gun rights, gun control, armed police, open and concealed carry of firearms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Assault Weapons Ban</span> United States federal law

The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, popularly known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), was a subsection of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a United States federal law which included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms that were defined as assault weapons as well as certain ammunition magazines that were defined as large capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal background check</span> Background checks for private sales of firearms in the United States

Proposals for universal background checks would require almost all firearms transactions in the United States to be recorded and go through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), closing what is sometimes called the private sale exemption. Universal background checks are not required by U.S. federal law, but at least 22 states and the District of Columbia currently require background checks for at least some private sales of firearms.

The National Firearms Agreement (NFA), also sometimes called the National Agreement on Firearms, the National Firearms Agreement and Buyback Program, or the Nationwide Agreement on Firearms, was an agreement concerning firearm control made by Australasian Police Ministers' Council (APMC) in 1996, in response to the Port Arthur massacre that killed 35 people. Four days after the killings, Australian Prime Minister John Howard told Parliament “We need to achieve a total prohibition on the ownership, possession, sale and importation of all automatic and semi-automatic weapons. That will be the essence of the proposal that will be put by the Commonwealth government at the meeting on Friday...". The laws to give effect to the Agreement were passed by Australian State governments only 12 days after the Port Arthur massacre.

Joseph V. Sakran is an American trauma surgeon, public health researcher, gun violence prevention advocate and activist. His career in medicine and trauma surgery was sparked after nearly being killed at the age of 17 when he was shot in the throat. He is currently an assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University, Director of Emergency General Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also serves as the Associate Chief for the Division of Acute Care Surgery.

The boyfriend loophole is a gap in American gun legislation that allows physically abusive ex-romantic partners and stalkers with previous convictions or restraining orders to access guns. While individuals who have been convicted of, or are under a restraining order for, domestic violence are prohibited from owning a firearm, the prohibition only applies if the victim was the perpetrator's spouse or cohabitant, or if the perpetrator had a child with the victim.

References

  1. ↑ Weisser, Mike (26 January 2015). "Want to Learn About Gun Safety? Just Ask the NRA". Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Granda, Carlos (27 October 2015). "LA City Council passes tougher gun storage laws". ABC7. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Air weapons: a brief guide to safety". Gov.uk. Home Office. 20 April 2023. Archived from the original on 20 April 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  4. ↑ "Young People and Air Weapons" (PDF). British Association for Shooting & Conservation. March 2017. p. 1. Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023. From the 10th February 2011, the Crime and Security Act 2010 made it an offence for a person in possession of an air gun to fail to take "reasonable precautions" to prevent someone under the age of 18 from gaining unauthorised access to it. The storage of air guns must be reasonable 'in all of the circumstances' so air gun owners must take appropriate steps to prevent young people gaining unauthorised access to their air guns.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Child Access Prevention". Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  6. 1 2 "National Data | State Firearm Laws". www.statefirearmlaws.org. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  7. ↑ Jacobs, James B.; Potter, Kimberly A. (1995). "Keeping Guns out of the "Wrong" Hands: The Brady Law and the Limits of Regulation". The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 86 (1): 93. doi:10.2307/1144001. ISSN   0091-4169. JSTOR   1144001.
  8. ↑ Cummings, P; Grossman, DC; Rivara, FP; Koepsell, TD (1 October 1997). "State gun safe storage laws and child mortality due to firearms". JAMA. 278 (13): 1084–6. doi:10.1001/jama.1997.03550130058037. PMID   9315767.
  9. ↑ Webster, DW; Starnes, M (December 2000). "Reexamining the association between child access prevention gun laws and unintentional shooting deaths of children". Pediatrics. 106 (6): 1466–9. doi:10.1542/peds.106.6.1466. PMID   11099605.
  10. ↑ Webster, Daniel W. (4 August 2004). "Association Between Youth-Focused Firearm Laws and Youth Suicides". JAMA. 292 (5): 594–601. doi: 10.1001/jama.292.5.594 . PMID   15292085.
  11. ↑ Hepburn, Lisa; Azrael, Deborah; Miller, Matthew; Hemenway, David (August 2006). "The Effect of Child Access Prevention Laws on Unintentional Child Firearm Fatalities, 1979-2000". The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care. 61 (2): 423–428. doi:10.1097/01.ta.0000226396.51850.fc. PMID   16917460.
  12. ↑ Gius, Mark (June 2015). "The impact of minimum age and child access prevention laws on firearm-related youth suicides and unintentional deaths". The Social Science Journal. 52 (2): 168–175. doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2015.01.003. S2CID   145017217.
  13. ↑ Kleck, Gary; Patterson, E. Britt (1 September 1993). "The Impact of Gun Control and Gun Ownership Levels on Violence Rates". Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 9 (3): 249–287. doi:10.1007/BF01064462. JSTOR   23365752. S2CID   144180611.
  14. ↑ DeSimone, Jeffrey; Markowitz, Sara; Xu, Jing (July 2013). "Child Access Prevention Laws and Nonfatal Gun Injuries". Southern Economic Journal. 80 (1): 5–25. doi:10.4284/0038-4038-2011.333.
  15. ↑ Simonetti, Joseph A.; Rowhani-Rahbar, Ali; Mills, Brianna; Young, Bessie; Rivara, Frederick P. (August 2015). "State Firearm Legislation and Nonfatal Firearm Injuries". American Journal of Public Health. 105 (8): 1703–1709. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302617. PMC   4504301 . PMID   26066935.
  16. ↑ Azad, Hooman Alexander; Monuteaux, Michael C.; Rees, Chris A.; Siegel, Michael; Mannix, Rebekah; Lee, Lois K.; Sheehan, Karen M.; Fleegler, Eric W. (2020-05-01). "Child Access Prevention Firearm Laws and Firearm Fatalities Among Children Aged 0 to 14 Years, 1991-2016". JAMA Pediatrics. 174 (5): 463–469. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.6227. ISSN   2168-6203. PMC   7052788 . PMID   32119063.
  17. ↑ Mark, Anderson, D.; J, Sabia, Joseph; Erdal, Tekin (2018-11-01). "Child Access Prevention Laws and Juvenile Firearm-Related Homicides". NBER. doi: 10.3386/w25209 .
  18. ↑ Kalesan, Bindu; Mobily, Matthew E; Keiser, Olivia; Fagan, Jeffrey A; Galea, Sandro (March 2016). "Firearm legislation and firearm mortality in the USA: a cross-sectional, state-level study" (PDF). The Lancet. 387 (10030): 1847–1855. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01026-0. PMID   26972843. S2CID   21415884.
  19. ↑ "What works to reduce gun deaths". The Economist. 2018-03-22. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
  20. ↑ "Child Access Prevention". Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  21. ↑ Prickett, Kate C.; Martin-Storey, Alexa; Crosnoe, Robert (June 2014). "State Firearm Laws, Firearm Ownership, and Safety Practices Among Families of Preschool-Aged Children". American Journal of Public Health. 104 (6): 1080–1086. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.301928. PMC   4061995 . PMID   24825210.
  22. ↑ Faulkenberry, J. Grey; Schaechter, Judy (September 2015). "Reporting on pediatric unintentional firearm injury–Who's responsible". Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. 79 (3 Suppl 1): S2–S8. doi:10.1097/TA.0000000000000676. PMID   26308117. S2CID   21943383.
  23. ↑ "Child Access Prevention". Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  24. ↑ Anderson, D. Mark; Sabia, Joseph J. (2018-08-01). "Child-Access-Prevention Laws, Youths' Gun Carrying, and School Shootings". The Journal of Law and Economics. 61 (3): 489–524. doi:10.1086/699657. ISSN   0022-2186. S2CID   155967972.
  25. 1 2 Spies, Mike (13 October 2016). "Academic Who Helped Design the NRA's Child Gun Safety Program Says the Group Is Misusing It". The Gunfighters. The Trace . Retrieved 20 February 2018. Lisa Monroe says Eddie Eagle was never intended to be a substitute for safe storage laws.
  26. ↑ Himle, MB; Miltenberger, RG; Gatheridge, BJ; Flessner, CA (January 2004). "An evaluation of two procedures for training skills to prevent gun play in children". Pediatrics. 113 (1 Pt 1): 70–7. doi:10.1542/peds.113.1.70. PMID   14702451.
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