Task force pushing legislation for stricter gun laws to protect children

Thirty percent of high school students said they could be ready to fire a gun in less than an hour without a parent or other adult's permission.

Keeping kids alive and understanding how firearms in a home could lead to children dying was the goal for one group Thursday who highlighted this statistic.

The child fatality task's force's goal is simply to prevent child death and promote well-being.

The group believes all of these fatalities due to guns and drugs are 100 percent preventive and that means locking up your guns, making sure they are always unloaded and educating your children, keeping the communication open about the dangers of both guns and drugs, as the task force also pushes for stricter gun laws.

All these deaths are preventable.

Over the last 10 years, there were 680 deaths in North Carolina due to firearm injuries.

The NC child fatality task force stressed the importance of using a gun lock and safely storing your weapon. That's because they found more than 75 percent of guns used in suicide attempts and unintentional injuries were stored in the home of the victim, a relative or friend.

More than 40 percent of adults in our state have a firearm in the home, half are stored loaded or unlocked.

What's even more alarming?

"Those guns can end up in the school environment," said a task force member.

"Thirty percent of high school students say they could be ready to fire a gun in less than an hour without a parent or other adults permission," the member said.

To prevent guns in the hands of our children, the task force wants to support legislation to change the law addressing safe storage to protect minors.

The group wants the law to remove language that states that a person charged does not have to live in the same place as a minor.

Drugs killing newborns, children and teenagers also a hot topic of discussion, specifically fentanyl. The task force said the responsibility is with parents to educate and be more aware.

There were 108 pediatric fentanyl deaths in babies to age 17 over the past decade. There were 29 deaths due to fentanyl in children in 2022.