Officials Remind Parents To Keep Their Guns Secured To Avoid Tragedy
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Recent events locally show the tragic consequences of children getting their hands on firearms not secured by their parents.
Less than two weeks ago, a 5-year-old child in Penn Hills died after being shot by his 6-year-old sibling. Only hours later, a 4-year-old boy got hold a gun in East Liberty and fatally shot himself. Both incidents remain under investigation.
They followed another tragedy in Monroeville in March, when a 5-year-old child accidentally shot his 3-year-old sister.
In that case, police have charged the father, Martaz Colvin, with involuntary manslaughter. Both he and the mother, Brea Sanders, are also charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of children.
Gun rights advocates like Kim Stolfer agree that in cases like this, charges against gun owners are appropriate.
"If you have a firearm, you need to make sure it's kept safe and away from people," Stolfer said. "And if you don't, then you're responsible for that.
"It's just the same as allowing your child access to poison or the car keys. You just don't allow that to happen, not if you're a responsible adult."
But advocates for stricter gun laws want to take it a step further and are pushing for the state to adopt so-called safe storage laws, which require owners to use gun locks and safes to keep guns out of the hands of children and others.
Josh Fleitman of CeaseFirePA said 27 other states have such laws but Pennsylvania is not one of them.
"Not only are you putting your own children at risk but failing to lock your guns up safely, you're putting kids and the community at risk," Fleitman said. "That is just wrong, so we need laws to hold people accountable who fail to take the proper safety precautions."
While Stolfer said owners are responsible, he said locks are not the answer.
"Citizens need to have access to firearms in situations of gravest extreme when your life is at threat," Stolfer said. "And in that case, these provide unnecessary and unworkable impediments to that."