The holidays are a happy time of year, but can also be dangerous, specifically when it comes to guns.
Christian Heyne is Chief Programs and Policy Officer, with Brady, a gun violence prevention group. He tells WBBM, holiday parties, guns, hiding places, and kids can be a dangerous mix with people visiting the homes of gun owners.
“We actually see firearms suicide rates drop (over the holidays) but at the same time because people are getting together, because they are going into homes that potentially have unsecured firearms that are accessible to children and to other family members, we see really horrific increases in unintentional shootings and those highest rates of unintentional shootings happen around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.”
Heyne has partnered with the Illinois Department ofPublic Health on a campaign called "Pause To Heal," to raise awareness about Firearm Restraining Orders to help prevent gun violence.
Brady says there are 4.6 million children in the U.S. living in homes with unlocked and loaded firearms.