Recent Legislation around Furniture Straps

From the father of Charlie Horn (May 6, 2005 – November 1, 2007)

Recently my 2 ½ year old son Charlie was killed in a tragic accident at home.  As his father, I struggle with the fact that I could have prevented his death.

A dresser merely 30” high fell on him and took his life.  He was apparently climbing on the dresser like most inquisitive children will do.  Had we secured this dresser to the wall, Charlie would still be with us today & his wonderful smile would still warm my heart. 

We are not alone, approximately 20 children die and an estimated 8,000 -10,000 are injured each year from furniture/TV tip over accidents.  Most of these are children under 5 years old.

My family’s pain is indescribable…however an opportunity now exists for Charlie’s story to help others.

There is a bill which has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in the 1st session of the 110^th Congress, and we need your help.

The Bill:  HR 4266 – The Katie Elise & Meghan Agness Bill - Formerly HR Bill 1861, it has been recently re-introduced as HR 4266 by Rep. Allyson Schwartz. This bill would require any furniture or electronic appliances in jeopardy of tipping bear a warning label alerting consumers to the potential dangers of unsecured furniture. In addition, this furniture would be required to come packaged with anchoring devices and simple installation instructions, so it can be safely secured to wall studs. 

To read the entire bill, please click here:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.4266:

I am pleading for everyone who gets this e-mail forwarded to them to do two things:

1)  Sign the petition: http://www.where-to-turn.org/petition_hr1861.php                 This will take 1 minute of your time and will greatly help. (This is the former bill # but it still is the appropriate place to sign the bill)

2)     Contact your congressman, with an e-mail or phone call.  Ask them to sign on as a Co-sponsor for HR bill 4266.   If you don’t know who your congressman is or how to contact them just click here to find out: http://www.rallycongress.com/letter2congress/698/?gclid=CKCJ2LihkpACFQe0Hgod8l8Qhw

Accidents happen & I don’t expect legislation to completely solve this problem; but it will help, and I am confident that it will save lives of other children.

If you have children or grandchildren – Please secure your furniture & TV’s to the wall.  You can fix a hole in the wall…but you can’t fix a hole in your heart.

-Trust me

Brett Horn