U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) spoke on the Senate floor this week about the number of accidental deaths caused by children who gain access to guns.
According to Murphy, last year there were 278 accidental shootings by kids or teens in the country.
He said the U.S. has the highest number of these incidents in the Western world because of the large number of unsafe weapons that are available to children.
“I think it’s time we start talking about this epidemic of young kids, as young as 1- or 2-years-old getting their hands on weapons and either killing themselves or killing their parents or their brothers or their sisters.”
Murphy said smart gun technology could help reduce the number of deaths. The technology locks the weapon so only the owner of the gun can use it.