ATLANTA — Two tragedies have struck Paulding County in one month.
Authorities said 6-year-old Millie Drew Kelly and 14-year-old Matthew Hubbard were killed weeks apart in what investigators have determined to be accidental shootings.
According to one study, 110 children die due to accidental shootings each year. That's nearly two every week.
But charges are rarely filed, as is the case with both the Paulding County cases.
"Sometimes, unfortunately, accidents do happen. Bad things happen to good people," said Sgt. Ashley Henson with the Paulding County Sheriff's Office.
Cases are investigated as if they're murders. Detectives interview witnesses and talk to any adults that were around at the time.
"We look at any extenuating circumstances, any type of negligent behavior, whether it's drugs or alcohol involved, any kind of negligent behavior," Henson said.
Gun control advocates across the country are pushing for laws to punish adults who don't store their guns safely. Earlier this year, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal proposed federal safe storage gun legislation.
Right now, each state has it's own laws.
According to the gun control advocacy group, Everytown, 28 states -- including Georgia -- have child access laws on the books.
In Georgia, it is a felony to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly provide a handgun to a child under 18.
Georgia's neighboring state, Florida, has one of the strongest child access laws in the country. There, it's a felony to negligently store or leave a loaded firearm where it may be accessed by a child under 16 if the child obtains the firearm and causes bodily injury or death.
Florida's child access law has helped drop accidental child gun deaths by a whopping 51 percent according to a study from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. That same study, though, says no other state with similar laws saw a drop in accidental gun deaths.
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