State Firearm Laws, Firearm Ownership, and Safety Practices Among Families of Preschool-Aged Children

Abstract

Objectives. We investigated how state-level firearms legislation is associated with firearm ownership and storage among families with preschool-aged children. Methods. Using 2005 nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n = 8100), we conducted multinomial regression models to examine the associations between state-level firearms legislation generally, child access prevention (CAP) firearms legislation specifically, and parental firearm ownership and storage safety practices. Results. Overall, 8% of families with children aged 4 years living in states with stronger firearm laws and CAP laws owned firearms compared with 24% of families in states with weaker firearm laws and no CAP laws. Storage behaviors of firearm owners differed minimally across legislative contexts. When we controlled for family- and state-level characteristics, we found that firearm legislation and CAP laws interacted to predict ownership and storage behaviors, with unsafe storage least likely among families in states with both CAP laws and stronger firearm legislation. Conclusions. Broader firearm legislation is linked with the efficacy of child-specific legislation in promoting responsible firearm ownership.

Racial/Ethnic Specific Trends in Pediatric Firearm-Related Hospitalizations in the United States, 1998–2011

“…There are wide state-specific variations that are further complicated by additional firearm laws that could be either restrictive or permissive [14]. The declining pediatric FH rates mainly driven by reduction in unintentional injuries and the higher rates among African American as compared to White children sustaining assault injuries found in our study, indicates the relevance of socio-demographic factors.…”

State Firearm Legislation and Nonfatal Firearm Injuries

“…Third, we measured state firearm legislation using the Brady score, a comprehensive scoring system that has been used in similar studies but not validated. 20,21,53 To our knowledge, there are no validated scales to compare firearm legislation between states, and although the Brady score assigns equal points to states on the 57 and would not account for the 10 times variation in discharge rates we observed between states. Lastly, these findings are vulnerable to misclassification bias because we could not identify injury victims who were transferred across state lines for treatment.…”

Trends in firearm safety—do they correlate with fewer injuries

“…Furthermore, studies have found that a child is 100 times more likely to die of a gunshot if he lives in MO, USA as opposed to Ontario, Canada [1] and that children in the USA are nine times more likely to die from a gun than most other industrialized nations [9]. While this increased risk is likely to be due to a multitude of factors, it seems societal differences influence the firearm-related statistics significantly [10]. Furthermore, those statistics say nothing of the many firearm-related deaths that are attributed to self-harm or accidents that occur in the USA each year [3,11].…”

“…Yet, it remains largely unknown if the Child Access Protection (CAP) laws decrease the accidental death of children related to firearms [8,24]. While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents who own firearms keep them in a locked safe [10] and CAPs make it illegal to store a gun in a place that is easily accessible to children [1], many children continue to have access to firearms. At least one firearm is kept loaded and unlocked in 20-50 % of all households with a firearm [25].…”

“…Another study looked at over 60,000 suicides among youth aged [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] and found that the CAP laws did not decrease the overall rates of suicide among the youth [7]. Yet, it does appear that CAP has a great effect on morbidity and mortality in states that have more strict penalties related to firearm possession and violence [10]. When looking at over 60,000 youths in 44 states, it was found that states with the most strict firearm laws had 2.2/ 1000 firearm injuries per trauma compared to 5.9/1000 firearm injuries per trauma in the nonstrict states [26].…”