The Register's editorial

A 26-year-old mother was fatally shot last week while driving on a Wisconsin highway. The perpetrator was not a gang member, angry motorist or disgruntled spouse. It was the woman’s 2-year-old son. The toddler picked up a gun that had slid from under the driver’s seat. Fortunately, he didn’t also hit his 1-year-old brother, grandmother or himself.

In the week before, a toddler in Indiana did fatally shoot himself after retrieving a gun from his mother's purse; a 1-year-old in Missouri shot and killed herself with her father’s gun while he was sleeping; a 3-year-old in Louisiana died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Many Americans heard about Jamie Gilt, who was shot by her 4-year-old son in March and survived. The Florida woman was a known gun-rights advocate. She maintained a Facebook page entitled “Jamie Gilt for Gun Sense” where she posted her pro-gun positions, including one bragging that her young son “gets jacked up to target shoot” posted shortly before she became the target.

In the last 10 days of April, seven toddlers in this country shot themselves or someone else. So far this year, 77 children under the age of 18 have unintentionally shot themselves or another person, according to data from Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control advocacy group. Among them were three Iowans.

In February, a Dubuque toddler survived after shooting himself in the face. Other children told officers they had been playing with the gun when the boy accidentally fired. In March, a 13-year-old Mahaska County boy died from a self-inflicted gunshot deemed “accidental” by authorities. In April, a 13-year-old in Cedar Rapids was arrested and charged in what authorities describe as an “unintentional shooting” of a 15-year-old boy.

Children cannot go to a gun store and purchase weapons. Irresponsible adults fail to properly secure them. And there will certainly be more tragedies involving children, including in Iowa, where elected officials have ensured more Iowans have easy, immediate access to guns. Perhaps the most egregious of lawmakers' transgressions: taking discretion from county sheriffs in deciding who should be granted a permit to carry a weapon. In 2010, lawmakers ignored the concerns of law enforcement, sided with the National Rifle Association and changed the law. Five years later, about 250,000 Iowans had permits to carry a loaded firearm. Before the law went into effect, fewer than 40,000 Iowans had such permits, according to information provided by the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

This does not make Iowa a safer place. Instead of unloading and storing a firearm to legally transport it, Iowans can instead easily obtain a permit to carry a loaded one. They may slip it into a jacket pocket, purse or under the seat of a car. And children, including those barely out of diapers, pick them up.