A 3-year-old boy was at home with his 5-year-old brother and his parents on Monday when the younger sibling found an unsecured gun and accidentally fatally shot himself.

Howard County Police are consulting with the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office on possible charges related to the case.

Every day, eight children are unintentionally killed or injured with an improperly stored gun in the United States, making firearms the number one cause of death in that demographic, according to Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence, a state-level gun violence prevention organization.

Last month, a 3-year-old girl in Montgomery County accidentally shot herself while in an apartment. A 15-year-old who does not live in the apartment was given a misdemeanor charge of possessing ammunition by a prohibited person and was released to his parents.

In 2022, Nykayla Strawder, 15, was accidentally fatally shot in Baltimore City by a 9-year-old boy who lived around the corner. Police said the shooting was accidental. Nykayla’s parents called for criminal charges against the gun owner.

The shooter did not face charges, but potential criminal charges were pending for the gun owner, and the Baltimore City Police Department was working closely with the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office on a charging decision.

They did not disclose the charges.

Parents or guardians in these situations can find themselves facing charges of reckless endangerment or involuntary manslaughter, said Rich Gibson, Howard County’s state’s attorney, speaking generally.

They can also be charged under the child’s access to firearms criminal law code 4-104, which has penalties of a fine up to $1,000 and a maximum of one year in prison.

However, parents are not charged often in these situations because the necessary circumstances needed for the charge to stick are fairly difficult to prove, Gibson said.

For the child’s access to firearms criminal law code 4-104, prosecutors need to show that parents knew that they left an unsupervised child near a loaded gun, and that they might get access to the weapon, Gibson said.

Reckless endangerment requires that parents engage in conduct that creates a significant increase in risk of death or serious physical injury to another, Gibson said. Involuntary manslaughter, which is the hardest charge to prove, requires proof that a parent engaged in an action causing death that is “criminally and grossly negligent” without malice.

“We look at it if we can prove that as well as if we should pursue it at all,” Gibson said. “Obviously, the family has lost a loved one. Sometimes the action is enough, and you don’t want to add insult to injury. But sometimes, you do because of the nature of the crime and facts.”

Gibson said could not provide any details about Monday’s death, or what charges might be brought, because the case is ongoing.

To prevent these tragic situations like Monday’s, it is important to safely store a gun, experts say. Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence has six steps for safe gun storage to prevent accidents:

Choose a safe space or a locking device that is most appropriate for your firearm, household and needs.

Before putting your gun in the safe or applying a locking device, make sure it is unloaded.

If you use a locking device, store the locked firearm in a location that is inaccessible to under 18 and other unauthorized users.

Store ammunition separate from the gun in another locked box.

Lock the safe or other device.

Repeat with every gun, every time.