Every child's death is a tragedy, no matter homicide, accidental or suicide and unless I misread the article the deaths were recorded, just not as accidents.
I would have thought calling them accidents would cause more problems than calling them homicides because homicides implies at the hands of another (not necessarily on purpose). Someone was responsible, in my opinion the adult owner. Accident, to me, implies no fault and if the guns were secured, as responsible gun owners do, the children can't get to them in the first place.
Hiding a loaded gun under a couch, loaning a gun to a 12 year old, allowing an 11 year old access to a unlocked gun cabinet (it should have been locked), having a loaded gun in a drawer close to a crib, or under a pillow are all examples of people being negligent with their guns and yes they do hold them responsible. To me those were not examples of accidents but negligent homicide.
An accident would be dropping the gun while storing it and it goes off (something which is extremely rare for a modern gun in working order) or catching the trigger while holstering a "locked and loaded" pistol (also rare but it does happen). Suicide should only be used if the person intended on killing themselves and keeping guns away from unsupervised children would prevent most of those.
Responsible (legal) gun owners do secure their guns in one way or another. If they choose to teach their children about guns they secure them away from them unless they are with them constantly supervising them.
As to the NRA I do not belong to the NRA and do not support many of their opinions, so I can't answer for them, but I see no problem holding gun owners responsible for securing their guns (within reason) especially around children.
In closing those deaths are tragic and calling many of them accidents I feel would be improper. But, please do not lump all legal gun owners into one big group. There are no children in my house but I do keep my guns secure and unloaded with the exception of the pistol I carry, it is loaded but it is always in one of three places secured at home, on my person or temporally locked in my car (to run into the bank or some place I can't carry my gun legally).
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