According to the National Safe Kids Campaign, 4.7 million children live in households with firearms that are sometimes kept loaded and in an unlocked location.

A Lancaster-based company, Child Guard, has set out to reverse this trend, according to CEO James Burton.

Child Guard developed and manufactures the Child Guard CS-100, a state-of-the-art gun lock that works to prevent accidental firearm discharges.

"When Child Guard decided to develop a new technology that would keep kids safe, we based our design on the features and benefits that knowledgeable firearm owners, shooters and hunters need and want," Burton said.

"A lot of other locking mechanisms don't work," Burton said. "Child Guard is effective in preventing unauthorized access to a gun. Other locks you can drill, cut or pry off, not this one."

In April 2006, Pennsylvania passed legislation making it unlawful for any gun dealer to sell a gun without a safety lock, Burton said.

"But a lot of the ones sold don't hold up," Burton said. "Retailers will sell the cheapest lock they can."

Burton said the Child Guard CS-100 isn't a "one-size-fits-all" solution.

"Some of the features of the lock are movable posts that allow the owner to use the lock on specific firearms and move the lock from gun to gun in a minute," he said.

Burton, of Wyomissing, and a group of Berks County investors recently acquired Child Guard from founder J. Terry Riebling of Pittsburgh.

"We invest in green-technology products or products that we feel will make a positive impact on society," Burton said.

Riebling, an NRA life member and gun writer, collaborated with a retired U.S. Marine weapons platoon sergeant to develop the technology to keep their own children safe from firearms. Several patents later, they created Child Guard CS-100.

And some staggering statistics also compelled the development of the locking technology, Burton said.

Children ages 10 to 14 account for 70 percent of accidental firearms deaths annually, according the U.S. Department of Health. And the U.S. General Accounting Office concluded that a childproof safety device could have prevented all of the accidents in which children under the age of 6 killed themselves or others.

Burton, a founder of Berkstalkline, a service that gives individuals the opportunity to discuss problems with a trained person in a confidential manner, said he believes the number of youth suicide deaths will decrease with the use of the Child Guard lock.

According to the Jed Foundation, a national organization that works to prevent suicide among college-age students, suicide is the leading cause of death in that age group.

In 2000, more than 1 million American youths attempted suicide. This figure is the equivalent of 2,700 attempted-suicides per day. Sixty-four percent of the suicide victims in the 10-to-24 age group used a firearm to complete the act.

"Our mission at Child Guard is to make the world safer by creating and distributing trustworthy firearm accessories and by donating to charitable safety causes," Burton said.

To that end, Child Guard is a participating organization in the recently formed USA Shooting Safety Coalition.

The coalition, which instructs more than 1 million students per year, creates materials for use by instructors to ensure consistent, high-level firearm safety training while raising the awareness of shooting as a competitive sport and family fun activity, according to Buddy Duvall, director of marketing for USA Shooting.

Child Guard provides technical assistance as well as funding for the coalition's initiatives.