COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - At least 21 states and the District of Columbia have child-access laws that deal with negligent storage of firearms, but Ohio is not one of them.
Democratic lawmakers have proposed child-access laws in Ohio several times, including the last three legislative sessions, with the bills dying after a single hearing before Republican-controlled committees.
But several people have been charged after accidental fatal gun shootings of children in Ohio, according to an analysis by the USA TODAY Network and The Associated Press. The organizations examined 152 gun accidents from 2014 to 2016 in which children under age 12 either killed themselves or were shot and killed by another child.
Eleven children, ranging in age from 1 to 11, died from accidental shootings from 2014 to 2016 in Ohio.
The analysis showed that charges including endangering children, negligent homicide, complicity to negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter were filed in seven of those cases.
Several of the cases are still pending, but at least three adults have served time for the shootings, the analysis found.
During the three-year period, three 2-year-olds died, the most of any age. Ten of the 11 victims were boys.
The Ohio shootings included a 5-year-old shot in Cincinnati in November 20014, a 1-year-old boy shot in Cleveland in April 2015 and a 2-year-old shot in Columbus in December 2016.
Eight of the shootings happened at the children’s homes, while the remainder happened at other houses. Nearly all the fatal shootings involved handguns except for the case of an 8-year-old killed by a shotgun.
In the situations in which an adult’s location was known, most were in the house or nearby, the analysis found.
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