Your Gun Safe Isn't Enough: What This Week's Headlines Should Tell Every Parent About Children and Firearms

Published by Vertex Security Services | February 2026

On Tuesday, sixteen-year-old Christopher Redding was shot in the back and killed at a bus stop in the Bronx after stepping in to protect friends from a group that included a 17-year-old with a gun. A 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl were also shot. On Valentine's Day, in La Junta, Colorado, a 17-year-old was shot and killed inside a home just before 2 a.m. An 18-year-old was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

Two states. Two dead teenagers. One week.

Last September, a 16-year-old opened fire at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County, Colorado — a quiet mountain suburb of Denver — shooting 20 rounds in nine minutes before taking his own life. Two students were critically injured. The weapon was a .38-caliber revolver that belonged to a grandparent and was kept in a safe in the home.

Kept in a safe. And a teenager still got to it.

Firearms have been the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States since 2020. In 2025 alone, 4,458 children and teenagers were shot. Of those, 1,256 died — more than three every single day. American children aged 5 to 14 are 21 times more likely to be killed by a gun than children in any other high-income country on earth.

The common thread in nearly every one of these tragedies is access. A child or teenager got their hands on a firearm that an adult failed to secure. That is the problem this article is about — and it is the one thing every parent, grandparent, and gun owner in the country has the power to change today.

Locking It Up Is Not the Same as Securing It

The Evergreen shooter's weapon was in a safe. He accessed it anyway. This is not an unusual detail — it is the pattern. Studies consistently show that the majority of firearms used by minors in school shootings and other incidents were obtained from the home of a parent, relative, or friend. A locked cabinet with a key in the nightstand drawer is not secured. A safe with a code a teenager has watched you punch in is not secured. A closet shelf that a child knows about but has been told not to touch is not secured.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends storing firearms locked and unloaded with ammunition locked separately. Research from RAND confirms that laws limiting children's access to stored firearms reduce youth firearm suicides, unintentional shootings, and homicides. Twenty-six states now have child access prevention or secure storage laws on the books.

But the law is not the point. The point is that your storage solution needs to be evaluated against one question: could the children in or around your household defeat it? If the answer is anything other than an unqualified no, your firearms are not secured.

The Questions You Need to Ask — Starting Today

Where are the guns in your home, and who can access them? Audit every firearm in the household. Where is it stored? Who knows the combination, the key location, or the access code? If your teenager could access any firearm while you are not home, the storage method has failed.

Where are the guns in the homes your children visit? This is the question most parents never ask — and the one that might matter most. Before your child goes to a friend's house, a grandparent's house, or a relative's home, ask whether firearms are present and how they are stored. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Be SMART campaign all encourage parents to ask this question before playdates and sleepovers. It is no different from asking about a backyard pool, food allergies, or adult supervision. If the question makes you uncomfortable, consider what is more uncomfortable: asking it, or not asking it.

Does your child know what to do if they encounter a gun? Young children should know four words: stop, don't touch, leave, tell an adult. Older children and teenagers need a broader conversation — what to do if a friend shows them a weapon, if they are pressured to hold or carry one, if someone brings one to school, or if they see a threat posted online. They need to know that reporting is not snitching. It is the action that prevents funerals.

Are you monitoring your child's online world with the same seriousness as their physical one? The Evergreen shooter was radicalized through an online extremist network. The FBI had opened an assessment into his social media account months before the attack but could not identify him in time. You do not need to read every text your child sends, but you need to know what platforms they use, who they communicate with, and whether their behavior has changed in ways that should concern you.

Is your child's school prepared? Does the school have controlled access points? Security cameras with active monitoring? Lockdown procedures that have been practiced — not just written into a binder? At Evergreen, security doors prevented the shooter from entering additional areas of the building. That infrastructure saved lives. Ask your school administrators what security measures are in place, when they were last assessed, and who conducted the assessment.

This Is Not About Politics. It Is About Access.

Reasonable people disagree about gun policy. This article is not about that debate. This is about a factual reality that transcends ideology: when children can access firearms, children die. The mechanism of prevention is straightforward — store firearms so that minors cannot access them, ask the question before your child enters someone else's home, and engage with your child's school about the security measures protecting them during the hours they are not under your roof.

Every one of the incidents described above — the Bronx bus stop, the La Junta home, the Evergreen classroom — involved a young person with a gun. In every case, an adult somewhere along the chain failed to prevent that access. Those are the failures that parents and communities can address right now, without waiting for legislation, without waiting for funding, and without waiting for the next headline.

Vertex Security Services: Home Security Assessments and Firearms Safety Training

Vertex Security Services provides residential threat and vulnerability assessments designed to identify the gaps that put families at risk — including firearm storage, access control, perimeter security, lighting, camera placement, and emergency response planning. If there are firearms in your home and children under your roof, a professional assessment can determine whether your current storage and security measures meet the standard that today's threat environment demands.

We also offer nationally recognized firearms safety training for individuals and families, covering safe handling, secure storage best practices, and age-appropriate education for households with children. Our team brings backgrounds in law enforcement, military special operations, and certified firearms instruction — professionals who understand that responsible gun ownership and child safety are not competing priorities.

If you want an honest evaluation of whether your home security and firearms storage are adequate to protect the people living inside it — we welcome that conversation.

📞 970-989-4610 📧 admin@vertexsecurityservices.com 🌐 www.vertexsecurityservices.com 📍 P.O. Box 8604, Aspen, CO

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the leading cause of death for children in the United States? Firearms have been the leading cause of death for children and adolescents (ages 1–19) since 2020. In 2025, 1,256 children and teenagers were killed by gunfire — more than three per day. American children are 21 times more likely to die by gun than children in other high-income countries.

How should firearms be stored in a home with children? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends firearms be stored locked and unloaded with ammunition locked separately. The critical standard is not whether the firearm is "locked" but whether it is truly inaccessible to minors. If a teenager in the household could defeat the storage method — by knowing a code, finding a key, or accessing a combination — the weapon is not adequately secured.

Should I ask other parents if they have guns in their home? Yes. Asking whether firearms are present and how they are secured is a basic safety question, no different from asking about pool fences or allergies. The American Academy of Pediatrics and organizations like Be SMART encourage parents to ask before playdates, sleepovers, and visits to unfamiliar homes.

What should my child do if they see a gun? Young children: stop, don't touch, leave, tell an adult. Older children and teenagers should not handle the weapon, should leave the area, and should report it to a trusted adult immediately. Children should understand they will never be in trouble for reporting — and that reporting saves lives.

What is a school threat and vulnerability assessment? A professional evaluation of a school's physical security, procedures, and capacity to identify and respond to threats. It examines access control, camera coverage, lockdown procedures, communication systems, visitor management, and behavioral warning indicators. The result is a set of prioritized, actionable recommendations specific to that school's risk profile.

Vertex Security Services is a woman-owned, Colorado-based security company headquartered in Aspen, providing executive protection, armed security, school security, event security, and threat vulnerability assessments nationwide.