By Michael Eugene Johnson
There are some headlines that should never feel routine. Yet across this country—from Baltimore to Chicago to Atlanta—we continue to read the same devastating words: Child injured in accidental shooting.
We call them accidents. But too often, they are acts of adult negligence. When a child gets hold of a firearm inside a home, that child did not fail. The adult did. Children do not purchase guns. They do not decide how weapons are stored. They do not control whether a firearm is locked in a safe or left loaded in a drawer. Adults make those decisions. Adults bear that responsibility. Yet each time tragedy strikes, the conversation drifts. We talk about curiosity. We talk about peer pressure. We talk about bad luck. Rarely do we focus squarely on the one factor that could have prevented the harm: a properly secured weapon.
This is not a debate about whether someone has the legal right to own a firearm. Rights come with responsibilities. Owning a gun in a household with children demands heightened caution—not casual storage. A loaded firearm under a pillow or inside an unlocked nightstand is not responsible ownership. It is a disaster waiting to happen.
If a child injures themselves because an adult failed to secure a gun, that should not be treated as a mere mistake. It should be prosecuted as criminal negligence. If that same firearm was illegal—unregistered, unlawfully obtained, or prohibited in that household—the penalties should be even more severe. An illegal gun combined with a child’s access is not a technical violation; it is reckless endangerment.
Some will argue that tough penalties are excessive. I would argue that burying a child is excessive. We require parents to use car seats. We mandate smoke detectors. We enforce pool fencing laws. Why? Because society recognizes that children must be protected from preventable harm. Safe firearm storage belongs in that same category of basic responsibility.
Accountability is not about politics. It is about prevention. When adults face serious legal consequences for unsecured firearms—felony charges, significant fines, potential incarceration and permanent loss of gun ownership rights—it sends a clear message: safeguarding children is not optional. It is mandatory.
The truth is uncomfortable but necessary. When a child pulls a trigger inside a home, the chain of failure began long before that moment. It began when an adult chose convenience over caution. When an illegal firearm was brought into a house. When a safety lock was ignored.
We cannot keep mourning the same tragedy while avoiding the same solution. If you choose to bring a firearm into your home, you choose to shoulder a profound responsibility. And if that responsibility is ignored, and a child is harmed, the law must respond with strength—not sympathy.
Because protecting children should never be negotiable.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.