Here’s What to Know About Utah’s Gun Laws Amid Recent Unintentional Shootings by Children

This Week an 8-year-old Boy Unintentionally Fatally Shot Himself In Lehi, As Part of Larger Trend in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah chapter of Moms Demand Action, part of Everytown for Gun Safety's grassroots network, issued the following statement after several unintentional shootings by children were reported in the past week. Notably, Utah lacks fundamental gun safety laws that could help prevent these tragedies. In 2023, the annual number of unintentional shootings by children surpassed 400 for the first time since Everytown began its tracking. Everytown's research also shows that Utah saw 29 unintentional shootings by children from 2015-2023.

"This week our state has been reminded once again of the pain and suffering caused by a child gaining access to a firearm," said Jaden Christensen, a volunteer with the Utah chapter of Moms Demand Action. "Every day, parents across Utah worry for the safety of their kids at the mall, movie theaters and schools, yet ignoring the risks at home by leaving guns accessible for their children. As parents, we have a responsibility to securely store our weapons, and talk to our peers to ensure guns don't fall into our children's hands during the next play date. And our state has a key role in educating and passing gun safety laws to ensure parents keep their guns securely stored."

Utah lacks every foundational gun violence prevention law, including:

• Requiring Background checks for handgun purchases at point of sale and/or for permit to purchase.
• Requiring any person who carries a concealed firearm in public to first obtain a permit.
• Allowing law enforcement (or even family members) to petition for a court order to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing guns.
• Requiring secure storage of firearms.

This week, an 8-year-old boy died after unintentionally shooting himself outside a gas station in Lehi while his parents were inside. This shooting comes just weeks after a 5-year-old boy in Santaquin unintentionally shot and killed himself after finding a handgun in his parents' bedroom. The child's parents were in the home at the time of the shooting.

Just two days ago, a 14-year-old boy, wielding an assault weapon at his classmates and teachers at the Apalachee High School in Georgia, shot and killed two adults, two students, and wounded nine others. As authorities still investigate the motive and how the boy obtained the weapon, Georgia, the same as Utah, doesn't prohibit the sale of assault style weapons like the AR-15 used in the shooting, nor does it have a child access prevention law requiring that gun owners secure their firearms when they are not being used to prevent theft and misuse. The boy and his dad have now been charged.

Secure gun storage reduces youth gun violence dramatically, with households that lock firearms and ammunition seeing up to 85% fewer unintentional injuries. State secure storage laws also incentivize better practices, with researchers finding they reduce injuries and deaths among young people. Secure storage gun laws are shown to reduce the risk of unintentional shootings by children by keeping firearms safely stored and away from unauthorized access.

Last year, a new law when into effect in Utah that added a requirement for schools to give suicide prevention materials to parents who have been notified of a threat of suicide or a bullying incident and to also provide information on ways to limit the student's access to fatal means, including firearms.

Utah has the 12th-highest rate of gun suicide in the country and 83-percent of all gun deaths in the state are from gun suicide. In an average year, 423 people die by guns. More information about gun violence in Utah is available here.