The letter, signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and others, says that "prevention of gun deaths and injuries should be an essential component of the federal government’s commitment to public health and safety." The senators cite Washington Post statistics on the 43 toddlers who shot someone as of Oct. 14 this year, and note that "the lifetime medical cost of treating gunshot injuries in the United States was $2.3 billion, with almost half the costs borne by taxpayers," according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Given those statistics, the senators call on the GAO to:

Analyze the impact of existing public and private health and safety programs that "raise awareness among the public of the risk factors associated with having guns in the home and provide best practices on how families and communities can engage in a conversation about the safe and secure storage of guns in the household";

Identify the programs that specifically aim to address unsafe gun access and use;

Identify federal agencies with missions that relate specifically to these programs.