.jpg "Safe storage of guns can not only prevent accidental deaths, but homicides and suicides as well, experts said.")
Safe storage of guns can not only prevent accidental deaths, but homicides and suicides as well, experts said.
Getty Images | Royalty Free
Getty Images/iStockphoto
After a 5-year-old Fort Worth girl accidentally shot and killed herself, experts stressed the importance of safe gun storage to save lives.
“Why are we waiting for the next accident to talk about this?” said Dr. Dan Guzman, an emergency physician with Cook Children’s Medical Center. “Why are we waiting for the next child to die or get injured before we start to really take this seriously?”
Fort Worth police said early information indicates that a 5-year-old in south Fort Worth accidentally shot herself Saturday, Sept. 5. The girl, identified by the medical examiner’s office as Nhilynn Serenity Raell Robinson, died from her wounds.
Fatal gun injuries are the leading killer of children and teenagers from age 1 through 19 in Tarrant County, according to federal data. Between 2020 and 2024, 215 children 1 through 19 were killed by firearms in Tarrant County. It’s unclear how many of those deaths are accidental. In a two-year time frame between 2023 and 2025, Cook Children’s treated 121 children who were accidentally shot and injured. Five of those cases were fatal, according to the health system.
Gun safety experts said the gold standard was for guns to be stored unloaded in a locked container, ideally separate from ammunition, said Dr. Katherine Hoops, a pediatric critical care physician and gun violence expert.
Hoops, who is also a director at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins, encourages a motto of “every gun, every time” for safe storage. She added that safe storage is commonly associated with preventing accidental deaths, but that it has also been shown to reduce suicides and homicides as well.
“It’s actually a safeguard against any unauthorized user gaining access to a firearm,” Hoops said.
A review of unintentional child gun deaths in the U.S. found that more than 90% of the deaths involved guns that were unlocked and loaded.
For gun owners who worry about accessing their gun in the event of a home intrusion, experts cautioned that an unsecured gun is a constant risk.
“I think one of our greatest threats and risks is just people having that mentality of, ‘it will never happen to me,’” said Eric Gonzalez, program manager for injury prevention at Cook Children’s.
At Cook Children’s, Guzman and Gonzalez are part of an effort by the health system to educate parents about safe gun storage. As a gun owner himself, Guzman, the medical director for the Center for Community Health at Cook Children’s, said it was important for gun owners to store their weapons responsibly. The pediatric health system said it has distributed about 1,000 gun storage boxes and more than 10,000 cable locks since 2017.
Texas does not have laws requiring guns to be stored locked and unloaded, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Texas does have a law that makes a gun owner criminally liable if they act “with criminal negligence” and a child under 17 gains access to a gun.
Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Ciara McCarthy covers health and wellness as part of the Star-Telegram’s Crossroads Lab. She came to Fort Worth after three years in Victoria, Texas, where she worked at the Victoria Advocate. Ciara is focused on equipping people and communities with information they need to make decisions about their lives and well-being. Please reach out with your questions about public health or the health care system. Email cmccarthy@star-telegram.com or call or text 817-203-4391.