"Love our kids, lock your guns": a community-based firearm safety counseling and gun lock distribution program
- PMID: 11386952
- DOI: 10.1001/archpedi.155.6.659
"Love our kids, lock your guns": a community-based firearm safety counseling and gun lock distribution program
Abstract
Background: Safer storage practices may reduce injury rates by limiting youth access to firearms.
Objective: To determine if a firearm safety counseling and gun lock distribution program improved storage practices.
Design: Community-based before-after trial.
Setting: Urban county in central North Carolina.
Participants: One hundred twelve adult gun owners recruited through a mass media advertising campaign.
Intervention: In the parking lot of a shopping mall, participants completed a survey, and were then provided with tailored counseling, gun safety information, a gun lock, and instructions to use it.
Main outcome measures: Firearm storage practices, assessed by survey and personal interview (baseline) and telephone interview (6-month follow-up).
Results: Most participants were white (62%), men (63%), had children (58%), and owned a gun for protection (74%). At follow-up, of the 82 participants, 63 (77%) (up from 39 [48%]) reported storing their gun(s) in a locked compartment (P =.004), 59 (72%) (up from 0) reported using gun locks (P =.001), 61 (74%) (up from 57 [69%]) reported storing their ammunition locked in a separate location, 59 (72%) (up from 52 [63%]) reported storing their gun(s) unloaded, and 6 (7%) (down from 15 [18%]) reported storing firearms unlocked and loaded. Participants with children were more likely at baseline to store weapons unlocked and loaded (38 [59%] vs 19 [41%]; P =.02) but were more likely after counseling to lock their weapons (29 [58%] vs 14 [44%]) and remove guns from the home (5 [10%] vs 0 [0%]).
Conclusions: This program prompted reporting of safer firearm storage practices, particularly among parents. Longer follow-up, verification of self-reports and correct use, testing of gun locks, and monitoring firearm injury rates after distribution programs are needed to establish the public health potential of this approach.
Similar articles
-
Evaluation of a community-based handgun safe-storage campaign.Pediatrics. 2005 Jun;115(6):e654-61. doi: 10.1542/peds.2004-1625. Pediatrics. 2005. PMID: 15930192
-
Community based program to improve firearm storage practices in rural Alaska.Inj Prev. 2003 Sep;9(3):231-4. doi: 10.1136/ip.9.3.231. Inj Prev. 2003. PMID: 12966011 Free PMC article.
-
Gun storage practices and risk of youth suicide and unintentional firearm injuries.JAMA. 2005 Feb 9;293(6):707-14. doi: 10.1001/jama.293.6.707. JAMA. 2005. PMID: 15701912
-
Review of evaluations of educational approaches to promote safe storage of firearms.Inj Prev. 2003 Jun;9(2):108-11. doi: 10.1136/ip.9.2.108. Inj Prev. 2003. PMID: 12810734 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Firearm Safety Counseling in Pediatric Primary Care.N C Med J. 2023 Jul;84(4):230-232. doi: 10.18043/001c.81268. N C Med J. 2023. PMID: 39302301
Cited by
-
Firearm locking device preferences among firearm owners in the USA: a systematic review.Inj Epidemiol. 2023 Jul 6;10(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s40621-023-00436-7. Inj Epidemiol. 2023. PMID: 37415242 Free PMC article.
-
Are household firearms stored less safely in homes with adolescents?: Analysis of a national random sample of parents.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006 Aug;160(8):788-92. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.160.8.788. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006. PMID: 16894076 Free PMC article.
-
Improving firearm storage in Alaska native villages: a randomized trial of household gun cabinets.Am J Public Health. 2012 May;102 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):S291-7. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300421. Epub 2012 Mar 8. Am J Public Health. 2012. PMID: 22401514 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
-
Racial Disparities in Cranial Gunshot Wounds: Intent and Survival.J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2016 Dec;3(4):687-691. doi: 10.1007/s40615-015-0187-7. Epub 2015 Nov 17. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2016. PMID: 27294759
-
Storage of poisonous substances and firearms in homes with young children visitors and older adults.Am J Prev Med. 2005 Jan;28(1):109-15. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2004.09.013. Am J Prev Med. 2005. PMID: 15626565 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical