YDR Editorial Board

On May 20, Joan Reichard was shot in her Red Lion home.

It was about 3:30 a.m. when she was shot in the bathroom. Her husband reportedly shot her, believing she was an intruder. State police said that "something startled" her husband, whose name was not released, and he grabbed a small handgun and shot his wife in the chest. Police ruled it a "pure" accident and described it as "obviously a sad situation."

One neighbor said "accidents happen."

Yes, they do.

But this one didn't have to happen.

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Had her husband's gun been secured, stored in a safe or lockbox, unloaded, it is unlikely that Mrs. Reichard would have been shot. Had he had to pause before shooting, it would have been much more likely that he would have realized that the suspected intruder was actually his wife.

It's a basic precaution, one that responsible gun owners should heed. Yet, as we have seen over the years, it is not as basic as you would think. Last September, a man died after accidentally shooting himself in his York home. In November 2015, a 12-year-old boy died after being shot by accident in his home. There have been other cases over the years.

How simple can it be?

Keep your guns secured and unloaded.

No matter how many times gun safety advocates preach that message, it seems to fall on deaf ears. The excuse? Well, if someone breaks into your house, you want to be able to grab your gun and protect your life and property.

The fatal flaw with that argument is that rarely happens. What happened to Mrs. Reichard is much more likely to occur.

Numerous studies have concluded that. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the risk of dying from an unintentional gunshot is 3.7 times higher for adults living in homes with guns, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence reported.

The center, which advocates for sensible gun laws, reported, "Unsafe storage practices are also a key contributor to gun violence death and injury, particularly among vulnerable populations like children."

The center cited a study that concluded that 55 percent of gun owners who have children leave one or more firearms unsecured. Forty-three percent of those did not have trigger locks on their unsecured firearms.

The bottom line is that having an unsecured firearm in your home makes you much more unsafe than any vague feeling of security it might give you.

Only 11 states have laws that govern the safe storage of firearms. Most of those, like the Pennsylvania law, only require gun dealers to provide trigger locks when a gun is purchased. Other states have laws requiring gun owners to keep weapons locked in a secure location, but only if an occupant of the house is prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law – convicted felons, for an example.

A recent examination of such gun safety laws by the Associated Press and the USA Today Network found that states that have attempted to adopt laws requiring guns to be stored securely have been thwarted by alarmist lobbying by the National Rifle Association. The NRA has called the laws a violation of gun rights and overreach by government into areas of personal liberty.

Such laws should be unnecessary. Smart gun owners routinely keep their guns locked away, well aware of their power and the danger they could pose. It should be a matter of routine for gun owners.

Unfortunately, it's not.

Mrs. Reichard survived the wound to her chest. But others who have been shot in similar circumstances haven't been so lucky.

Keep that in mind when you keep a loaded gun unsecured in your home. The danger it poses to you and to those in your home far outweighs any sense of security you may feel by having your weapon ready to fire at a moment's notice.