Whenever tragedies like the Aug. 5 unintentional shooting of a 6-year-old boy occurs, we ask ourselves how this could have been prevented. But when you learn there are guns in 36 percent of homes across Pennsylvania and more than 54,000 children in our state live in a home with a loaded, unlocked firearm, it’s easy to understand how easily these shootings occur.

Far too many children have access to guns and, more often than not, they know where the guns are stored. Many of these guns are kept unlocked and loaded, and every year thousands of children are killed or seriously injured as a result.

Most kids who die by a gun die at home; and, in the case where someone shoots the child almost half the time the shooter is a family member, often a sibling.

The easiest and first place prevention can occur is at home, in conversations between spouses, neighbors and at our pediatricians’ offices.

After weighing the risks and benefits of having a gun in the home — just as we do about other risky, dangerous items — parents and caregivers can make sure the gun is stored unloaded and locked, and ensure that the ammunition is stored separately.

Parents, gun owners or not, need to understand the risks of having a gun in the home and take a simple step to keep their children safe from guns: ask if there’s an unlocked gun where your child plays.