7 Million U.S. Children Live With Loaded, Unlocked Guns, Study Finds

A new study in JAMA Network Open places a precise number on a long-suspected danger: roughly 7 million American children share their homes with loaded, unlocked firearms. What makes the finding especially sobering is its internal contradiction — parents of teenagers, the age group most vulnerable to suicide, are more likely than parents of younger children to leave guns unsecured. The data illuminates a persistent human tendency to believe that what we know intellectually need not change what we do habitually, even when the stakes are measured in young lives.