Public Health Madison & Dane County

Safe Gun Ownership

Responsible gun ownership starts with safe storage. 

Owning a firearm comes with responsibility. If you have a gun in your home or keep it in your vehicle, it is important to store them properly, so they are not easily accessible to kids or any unauthorized people. Unsecured firearms can lead to unintentional shootings, suicide, or tragedies. Safe storage is a simple way to reduce risks and protect the people you care about. 

  • 128 Suicides by firearm

    In Dane County, there have been 128 suicides using a firearm since 2023.

  • 42 Accidental shootings

    In Dane County, there have been 42 non-fatal accidental shootings since 2023 including several incidents involving children.

Store every firearm securely. 

Here is a checklist of reminders for when a firearm is not in use: 

  • Unload the firearm. Remove all ammunition from the firearm, including removing any chambered rounds. 
  • Lock the firearm. Secure guns with a firearm locking device or in a locked location. 
  • There is a wide range of options from lockboxes to gun safes, even devices with biometric authentication. 
  • BeSMART has a visual guidebook of options for secure gun storage devices. 
  • Separate the ammunition. Store ammunition in a separate, locked location away from the firearm. Keeping guns and ammo apart adds a critical layer of safety, especially in homes with children, teens, or individuals in crisis. 

Have important conversations about firearm safety. 

Children should never have access to firearms. That's why safe storage is the number one step to keeping guns locked up. Another way to promote safety is to talk with your children about firearm safety. Depending on their age, the conversation may look slightly different, but the overall message is the same: any situation where there's an unsupervised gun is a dangerous situation.  

  • If you have young children: make it part of the normal safety conversations you have with your kids. Keep the language simple and to the point, emphasizing that a gun is not a toy.  
  • If you have adolescent children: include it in general safety conversations about topics like drugs and alcohol. Tell them to immediately leave any situation where an unsecured gun is present. You can also give them strategies for removing themselves from a situation they're not comfortable with.  
  • If your children are spending time with other families: Talk to other parents about their gun storage practices before your kids spend time in their homes.  

Children deserve to feel safe, no matter where they are. 

Find more resources from BeSMART. 

The Be SMART campaign is designed to raise awareness about secure gun storage. There are resources about why and how to secure your firearms, how to have tough conversations with fellow parents and gun owners, and more.  

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