A Northeastern University observational survey published in JAMA Network Open, drawing on responses from fewer than 900 U.S. gun-owning parents, estimates 6.7 million children reside with at least one unlocked and loaded firearm. This cross-sectional study, not an RCT, lacks longitudinal follow-up and carries no disclosed conflicts, yet aligns with prior Miller-led surveys tracking household patterns from 2019-2024. Firearm fatality rates jump from 0.6 to 7.5 per 100,000 between ages 11 and 17 per KFF analyses, underscoring how storage laxity intensifies precisely when adolescent suicide and interpersonal risks peak. Unlike episodic mass-shooting coverage, these data reveal persistent structural exposure tied to a 40% household gun prevalence post-pandemic surge, per Gun Violence Data Hub tracking. Related peer-reviewed work in Pediatrics (observational, n>10,000) links unlocked firearms to 4-fold higher unintentional injury odds, while a 2023 Annals of Internal Medicine review of 20 studies confirms safe storage mitigates but does not erase household homicide and suicide correlations. Mainstream framing often isolates incidents rather than addressing the absence of federal storage mandates amid varying state laws, a gap the NRA has not addressed in response to these findings. School-shooter surveys cited by criminologist James Alan Fox indicate nearly half obtain weapons from unsecured relatives, framing storage failures as upstream determinants of broader violence patterns.