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You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

A quick heads up. This episode mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling,

you can call 988 any time of day for support. Hey everybody, it's Mariel. Today's episode is about

kids and safety. That's what it comes down to,

really. Whether you own a gun or not, you'll want to keep them out of the hands of children.

And the thing is, in the U.S., firearms are the number one cause of death for kids and teens.

About 60% of those deaths are homicides, and 35% are suicides. Dr. Lois Lee is a pediatric emergency

medicine physician at Boston Children's Hospital, and she says often kids who die by suicide are

teenagers who have a passing impulse. So they may not have a mental health disorder. You may not

know of any symptoms beforehand.

It's something that happens to them. And we know that for many people who die from suicide,

from the time they think of it to when they complete the act is within an hour. We also know that

among all the means of suicide, if you try to kill yourself

with a firearm, more than 90% you will die. Other methods are far less likely to be fatal.

So storing your gun safely really can save lives. On this episode of Life Kit, we're going to talk

about how to keep kids safe from guns.

If you're a gun owner, there are best practices for how to store the gun and ammo so the kids in your life can't access them.

And if you have a kid and they're going over to other people's houses, you should be talking with the adults in charge about gun safety.

And we're here to make those conversations a bit easier.

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