Safety outweighs market forces when it comes to gun sales

Monday, Jan. 23, 2017 | 2 a.m.

The photos above are of products displayed during the 2017 SHOT Show, the massive firearms industry trade expo held this past week at the Sands Convention Center.

One of the guns is a firearm, designed to inflict deadly force. Two are airguns that would cause an injury if fired at someone but would be highly unlikely to leave them dead. Can you tell which is which?

Now, imagine being a 6-year-old and trying to tell the difference.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, at least 247 American children 17 and younger unintentionally injured or killed someone last year with a firearm. Among younger children especially, a common factor was that the child thought the weapon was a toy.

Meanwhile, gun manufacturers are increasingly making firearms in bright or designer colors that can make them appear more toy-like.

This blurring of the lines between lethal and nonlethal weapons is unsafe.

The gun lobby will argue that firearms manufacturers are responding to market forces — namely an upswing in gun buying among women, some of whom prefer weapons to come in colors besides black or silver. Likewise, airgun makers have found a strong market among buyers who want look-alike guns.

Those who oppose gun control legislation also would say that the biggest key to preventing unintentional shootings by young people is ensuring adult gun owners store their weapons securely at all times and educate their children about the dangers.

The point about adult responsibility is fair. The one about market forces doesn’t hold water. Safety should be the overriding concern in all matters involving guns, and designing them in colors that would make them more enticing to children is a patently bad idea.

At the SHOT Show, there were numerous displays of products aimed at reducing gun accidents or violence, such as gun safes featuring biometric technology that trips the lock only if the owner scans his or her fingerprints into the system.

It’s time for all manufacturers to adopt that same level of safety consciousness when designing their full range of products. If gun buyers don’t demand it, Congress and the Trump administration should.

Oh, and if you picked Gun A — the blue and white pistol on the left — as the real firearm and identified B and C as toys, give yourself a pat on the back. But would you trust a child to make that distinction?