Nearly all childhood accidental shooting deaths occur in or near the home.

Children are often playing with guns left loaded and accessible.

"Children are always going to want to play with everything- we know that," said Officer Greg Frenzel of the Berryville Police Department. "So you have to do everything you can, everything possible, to make sure firearms are secured and stored properly to prevent children from getting a hold of them."

Sometimes parents believe they have hidden the guns where the child can't find them.

But they can.

"You can tell any child flat out 'Don't do this, don't do that, don't touch this'," Frenzel added. "That gives them more reason to do it. If you educate them so they know how a firearm [works], they know what it's for, and what it's capable of- that goes a long way to taking the mystique away from it."

Despite the risk, Safe Kids Worldwide reports that an estimated 3.3 million children in the United States live in homes where guns are either always or sometimes left unlocked and loaded.

Parents should either remove guns from the home, or ALWAYS keep them locked and unloaded.

"You do not want to leave a key accessible. You want to keep that with you as well. I mean, it's the safety and storage, not just the firearm itself," said Officer Terry Fritts, also of the Berryville PD.

In 2005 a federal law was passed that requires a secure storage or safety device to be included when a handgun is sold, but the devices need to be used in order to provide any protection.

Thanks to a national grant, free gun safety locks are available.

"Most of the local police departments and sheriff's offices throughout the region have free gun locks available through Project Child Safe, which is a Department of Justice Program," shared Berryville Police Chief Neal White. "They supply local law enforcement agencies with gun locks to give out free of charge to people who need them."