New research about children and guns has been presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The studies found that less than half of kids between the ages of 7 and 17 were able to correctly identify a toy gun when it was next to a real one. Gun owners were also twice as likely to let their children play with toy guns.
Researchers examined hospital records of nearly 112,000 ER visits for pediatric firearm-related injuries between 2009 and 2013 and found that 63% of gun injuries are considered to be unintentional and victims are more likely to be 12 years old or younger.
A little over a third of gun owners said they follow recommended advice and kept their guns locked up, unloaded and separate from ammunition.
Another study found twice as many kids died in gun accidents where gun laws were more lenient.
