Philadelphia Official Aims To Prevent Accidental Gun Shootings By Children
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Philadelphia city council president Darrell Clarke has proposed legislation imposing strict requirements on how guns are stored in homes with children under 18.
So far this year, 69 children -- including a 9-year-old in Philadelphia -- accidentally shot themselves or someone else, according to Everytown For Gun Safety, which estimates 70-percent of the shootings could be prevented if owners stored their guns safely:
"It is clearly a problem," says Clarke.
He says his bill would address the problem by requiring trigger locks on all firearms sold, owned or carried in Philadelphia, and those stored in a home with children to be unloaded, in a locked container with ammunition stored separately:
"All of those things are not currently law, which is amazing."
Maybe not so amazing when you consider the NRA opposes such measures, and it has great sway with Pennsylvania legislators, who even tried to give the group the power to sue Philadelphia for attempts to regulate guns.
Those legislators had no immediate comment on Clarke's proposal.