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 The researchers examined data on gun and ammunition storage habits
in about 200 households before and after a community education
program on firearm safety that offered participants free firearm
lock boxes or trigger locks.
Overall, the proportion of participants who said all ammunition and
firearms in the house were stored locked, and unloaded, climbed from
33 percent before the education program and lock giveaway to 46
percent afterward.
"Storing firearms safely, including keeping them locked and
unloaded, is effective for preventing unintentional firearm injuries
and suicides - especially among children and adolescents," said lead
study author Dr. Joseph Simonetti of the VA Rocky Mountain Mental
Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Denver VA
Medical Center in Colorado.
"The average person living in a home with a firearm is more likely
to sustain an unintentional or self-inflicted firearm injury than be
a victim of a firearm-related assault or homicide," Simonetti said
by email.
Simonetti and colleagues looked for changes in household firearm
practices before and after community outreach events around Seattle,
Washington in 2015.
Overall, 53 percent of the participants had a child under 18 in the
household, and slightly more than a third of them had a child under
11 in their home.
Educators at the events demonstrated how to use firearm lock boxes
and trigger locks and also explained some of the risks associated
with improper gun and ammunition storage. To prevent injuries or
suicide attempts, they also encouraged removal of guns from the home
when a member of the household is depressed or has a substance abuse
problem.
Prior to the event, 52 percent of participants said they used a
firearm safe at home, while 29 percent used a cable lock, 21 percent
had trigger locks and 20 percent had a firearm lock box.
At the event, nearly nine in ten participants said they would prefer
to take home a free lock box, not a trigger lock.
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Afterward, 75 percent of participants said they used the device they
got at the event to store a household firearm, researchers report in
Injury Prevention.
Limitations of the study include the reliance on participants to
accurately report and recall how they stored guns and ammunition
before and after attending safety events, as well as the lack of a
control group of gun owners who didn't attend the event that might
help show how much the event was directly responsible for any
changes in storage habits.
Even so, the findings offer fresh evidence that educating families
and giving them free storage options may help more of them store
guns safely, said Dr. Ruth Abaya of Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia.
"Knowledge about safe storage has been available for some time,"
Abaya, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email. "We must
determine the most effective messengers to ensure that the message
is received and trusted."
Too often, people don't want to lock guns because they don't think
accidents will happen and they want their firearms immediately
available and ready to use, said David Schwebel of the University of
Alabama at Birmingham.
"But accidents can happen to anyone, and storing firearms that are
unlocked and loaded is extremely dangerous," Schwebel, who wasn't
involved in the study, said by email. "Accidents happen every day,
and tragic unintentional deaths and injuries occur."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2vAuu40 Injury Prevention, online July 24,
2017.
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