The Association Between Presence of Children in the Home and Firearm-Ownership and -Storage Practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective. American children's ready access to firearms contributes to high rates of firearmrelated injuries. Understanding the factors that influence storage decisions is critical for prevention. This study examined the influence of geography and presence of children <16 years old in the home on firearm-ownership and storage decisions of northeast-Ohio residents.Methods. Analysis was based on 522 responses to randomized telephone surveys of urban and rural households in northeast Ohio. Relationships between 4 dependent variables (firearm ownership, type of firearm owned, reasons for owning, and storage) and 2 independent variables (geography and presence of children in the home) were evaluated using odds ratios and multinomial logistic regression.Results. Firearms were significantly more common in rural (31%) than in urban (13%) households. Twenty-two percent of gun owners reported securing all firearms with trigger locks or storing them in locked safes, drawers, or gun cabinets; 12% reported storing guns unlocked and either loaded or together with ammunition. Most gun owners (66%) reported storing all firearms unlocked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition. Rural respondents without children were approximately twice as likely as those with children to have handguns, but children did not influence long-gun ownership. In the urban group, the presence of children was not related to likelihood of firearm ownership. Having children in the home was not significantly associated with higher rates of safe storage for either group.Discussion. These results illustrate the inadequacy of 1-size-fits-all interventions and highlight the need to better understand gun owners' reasoning about children and guns to design and implement successful interventions. Physicians and others interested in reducing pediatric exposure to firearms cannot be credible messengers on gun-safety topics if they cannot demonstrate an understanding of the issues from the perspective of patients and their families. Pediatrics 2005;115:e38-e43. URL: www.pediatrics.org/cgi

In-home firearm access among US adolescents and the role of religious subculture: Results from a nationally representative study

“…The majority of gun owners do not store guns in a locked place in the home and are no more likely to store guns safely if children are present (Connor 2005). Completed youth suicides are more likely when a gun is in the home, regardless of whether the gun is locked away or stored separately from ammunition, though increased safety measures reduce some risk (Brent et al 1991).…”

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

“…In addition, the survey questions used to address firearm behavior were brief: parents were asked whether they kept their firearms in locked cabinets but not about the purpose of their firearms or the types of firearms that they owned. 28 Questions on firearm ownership and storage may also lend themselves to social desirability bias, although the sensitivity analyses that we conducted Note. AOR = adjusted odds ratio; CI = confidence interval.…”

Why Do You Keep Them There? A Qualitative Assessment of Firearms Storage Practices

“…Parents and non-parents were rather similar across storage methods; a somewhat, but not entirely, unexpected finding. Other research suggests that the presence of children in the home is associated with storage practices, but that the relationship is not consistent across studies (e.g., Connor, 2005) and can be confounded by the presence of multiple firearms and thus multiple storage practices within a household (Stennies et al, 1999).…”

“…Some evidence suggests that parents are indeed more likely to store their firearms in a safe manner, away from children . However, the relation of parental status to storage practices in the literature is inconsistent, with other evidence suggesting that the presence of young children does not always motivate use of safer storage practices (Connor, 2005). Further complicating the relationship, some households may comprise more than one storage method, especially if firearms are stored in multiple locations and for different purposes.…”