On April 16, at around 10:05 p.m., 19-year-old De’Shawn L. Sturkey was killed in an accidental shooting near the 1200th block of Fish Hatchery Road.

Police said that he and his friend, 17-year-old Montrae K. Stalling, were playing with the firearm before it went off and hit Sturkey. He was taken to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries. Stalling was arrested for negligent handling of a dangerous weapon, according to WKOW 27 News.

Unfortunately, this incident comes as a result of a lack of gun control and safety. There are roughly 27,000 unintentional firearm injuries and 500 unintentional firearms deaths per year in the U.S., according to Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment. Sturkey’s death represents yet another casualty of the lack of gun control and regulation.

It is no secret that the U.S. has a gun problem.

In 2021, the U.S. had 26,328 suicide deaths by firearm, 20,958 deaths from homicides with firearms, 549 unintentional firearm deaths, 537 deaths involving legal interventions with firearms and 458 firearm deaths that were undetermined or unclear what situation these individuals were in when they died.

In addition, there were 502 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2024. A mass shooting is defined as a shooting leading to the injury of four or more people, excluding the shooter.

The U.S. has 120.5 firearms per 100 residents, the most in the world. Second place is Yemen, which has 52.8 firearms per 100 residents.

It is glaringly obvious that the U.S. has a serious gun problem, and we need to do something about it. Contrary to what the National Rifle Association and prominent pro-gun lobbying groups will lead you to believe, gun legislation and restrictions are not implemented to “take your guns.” This is far from the truth.

In my view, owning a firearm is a constitutional right that should be protected — I am not coming to take your guns or advocating for the government to do so. But, the laws surrounding firearms need to be improved to prevent mass shootings, lower the number of Americans killed by firearms and make our country a safer place.

A major piece of gun control legislation that could have saved Sturkey’s life is the safe storage of firearms. There are currently no federal laws that enforce the safe storage of firearms, though there are various state-level laws that require varying forms of safe storage of firearms.

As of 2025, 26 states and Washington, D.C. have some level of secure storage and/or child-access laws. These laws help prevent children or individuals who are not supposed to own firearms from acquiring them, which forces gun owners to safely store and lock away their firearms when they are not in use.

Secure gun storage has been shown to reduce gun violence, with households that safely lock and store their firearms and ammunition seeing up to 85% fewer unintentional injuries. Researchers also found that safe storage laws reduce injuries and deaths among young people, according to Everytown For Gun Safety. Passing federal laws to regulate child access and secure storage laws could help keep firearms out of the hands of children and others who shouldn’t possess them. As a result, we can halt accidental shootings and save lives.

In addition to creating federal child access and safe storage laws, there should be harsh penalties for individuals who do not properly store their firearms, as not doing so can have dire consequences.

On April 17, a 20-year-old Florida State University student obtained access to a firearm belonging to his mother, who was a sheriff’s deputy. The student then went on to kill two people on FSU’s campus and wound five others in a horrifying school shooting.

If the shooter’s mother left her firearm out in the open, without a locking mechanism on it, or allowed her son to gain access to the firearm, then she should be held liable and prosecuted. By imposing strict punishments for individuals who violate child access and safe storage laws, it would encourage gun owners to follow them or face serious consequences.

While there is a range of gun legislation that could help protect American citizens, strict federal child access and safe storage laws would be a massive step forward in terms of protecting Americans from the firearm epidemic. It is time that we accept the reality of our country’s gun control epidemic, because it has already spiraled out of control.