On Wednesday, Sept. 4, a gunman opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, killing two students and two teachers and wounding nine others.

Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student, was arrested after the shooting and charged with felony murder.

His father, Colin Gray, was also arrested in connection with the shooting and faces charges including four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon, Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said at a press conference .

Given how many guns there are in the U.S., its unsurprising that children access them with often devastating results.

Firearms have become the leading cause of death for U.S. children, surpassing deaths by automobile accidents in 2020.

A 2018 report by the Small Arms Survey estimates 393 million civilian-held firearms in the United States. Thats more guns than in the other top 25 countries combined. The U.S. represents only 4% of the global population but has nearly 40% of the worlds firearms.

And gun ownership increased significantly during the pandemic, with 8.4 million people purchasing their first gun in 2020 and another 5.4 million in 2021.

Children live in many of these homes. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) estimates that approximately one-third of U.S. children reside in a home with at least one gun and that 4.6 million children live with an unlocked, loaded weapon.

Given the ubiquity of guns, how can we keep our children safe?

School shootings tend to dominate our fears, but children are much more likely to be hurt or killed by a gun in their own homes and neighborhoods.

Here are some things we can do to reduce the odds that our children will be harmed by gun violence.