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32 Conn. L. Rev. 1189 (1999-2000)
Armed and Dangerous: Tort Liability for the Negligent Storage of Firearms

handle is hein.journals/conlr32 and id is 1205 raw text is: Armed and Dangerous: Tort Liability for the Negligent Storage of Firearms ANDRE J. McCLuRG I. INTRODUCTION Overwhelming evidence shows that high percentages of American gun owners negligently store their firearms, leaving them easily accessible to unauthorized, dangerous users. Ten different public health studies of fire- arm storage practices in U.S. households paint a bleak picture of the dismal level of responsibility we have accepted as a nation for safeguarding the most dangerous of all products.' The studies show that millions of guns are kept loaded and unlocked.2 More than 50% of all handguns are stored unlocked Ammunition is stored unlocked in between 30 to 40% of gun- owning households About the only good news in the studies is that gun owners with children store their guns safely more often than gun ovners without children.5 Even so, millions of children live in homes with loaded, unlocked firearms.6 Unsecured guns invite three types of firearms tragedy. Hundreds of children die in accidental shootings each year in this country! Hundreds * Nadine IL Baurm Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law; Visiting Professor, Wake Forest Universty School of Law, Spring 2000. Fmall: ajmcchrgualnedL Iam once again indebted to Debby Vickers, a second )ar student at the UALR School of Law, for her excellent long distance research. Thanks to Jim Gwbnn Jason Pratt. and the rest of the Connecticut Law Review staffor their gracious hoqpitality and hard work in organizing and assembling an excellent symposium. Ths Article Is the thrd In a trilo, of artles I hav'e written regarding unsafefirearms storage. The first two articles arguedfor safe frearms storage lam, This Article, which drawsfrom the earlier articles, addresses tort liabililyfor negligent storage. 1. See infra notes 20-97 and accompanying text for a review of these studies. 2. See infra note 93 and accompanying text. 3. See infra note 32 and accompanying text. 4. See infra notes 30,57 and accompanying text. 5. See infra notes 24,46, 76, 82, 94 and accompanying text. 6. See infra note 97 and accompanying text. 7. In 1995, the most recent year for which figures are available, 440 children and teens were killed in accidental shootings. See Dianne R. Stepp, School Watch; Students SignLng 'No-Guns' Pledge: Safety Issue: Parents of Many Middle School Pupils Wll Get Copies of the Promise About un Safety During Their Next Teacher Conference, ATLANTA J. & CONST., Oct. 15, 1998, at 41G, iallable In 1189

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