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Abstract
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The presence of firearms increases the risk of death by suicide, homicide, and unintentional firearm injury for household members.1 When the household firearms are unlocked, children and adolescents are at an especially high risk of death by suicide and unintentional firearm injury.2 Therefore, restricting access to household firearms via locking them has been promoted by a variety of organizations as an important strategy to save lives. However, our knowledge of precise storage practices, and in particular variations and preferences in using different firearm-locking devices, remains limited. Anestis et al3 present findings of a nationally representative survey among firearm owners in 2022 to characterize firearm storage practices, locking device preferences, and circumstances that would encourage locking unsecured firearms. They find that 58.3% of the sample reported storing at least 1 firearm unlocked and hidden, and 17.9% reported storing at least 1 firearm unlocked and unhidden. Among those reporting locking devices, there were variations in the choice of locking devices based on reasons for firearm ownership and types of firearms owned. The most reported circumstance that would make firearm owners consider locking unsecured firearms was preventing access by children.
These findings add to a nascent body of evidence reporting that different firearm owners have specific preferences for using certain locking devices. Simonetti et al4 examined preferences for firearm-locking devices and device features among participants in 2 community-based, firearm safety events in Washington. They found that among participants residing with unlocked firearms, 84% reported that they would consider using or definitely use a lockbox, whereas 11% reported they would never use a trigger lock. In addition, of those residing in households with unlocked firearms, 89% reported that the ability to lock a firearm while loaded and unlock it quickly was absolutely essential. In another study in the setting of those community-based events, Simonetti et al5also found that 96% of participants elected to receive a free firearm lockbox rather than a trigger lock. Horn et al6 conducted a pilot program among 40 randomly selected firearm-owning households in 2 Alaska Native villages to reduce unauthorized access to firearms by youth via installing gun safes and distributing trigger locks. During the follow up-visits, 86% of the gun safes were found locked with firearms inside. In contrast, only 30% of the trigger locks were found to be in use. Barber et al7 conducted an intervention trial at emergency department settings in Colorado to test counseling parents of youth at risk for suicide to reduce their child's access to firearms. In the absence of consumer preference research and safety guidelines, the researchers adopted their own set of criteria for selecting devices to provide. They sought low-cost devices and could not supply families with full-sized gun safes. They also decided against trigger locks because those devices "do not prevent theft, are not one size fits all, and, if used on a loaded gun, some allow the gun to be fired even while affixed." As such, they chose give-away handgun lockboxes. As a back-up, they also supplied cable locks for families who had long guns or multiple handguns. They found that, among parents who were offered the devices, fewer took and used cable locks (14%) than handgun lockboxes (28%). In the study by Anestis et al,3 among respondents using a locking device, gun safes were commonly reported to be used regardless of the reason for firearm ownership or specific locking mechanism (keypad/personal identification number/dial vs biometric). There were, however, more notable differences in the choice of locking devices between those who owned handguns only and those who owned long guns only. A strength of the study was the use of both image and text descriptions to elicit information about the choice of locking devices.
Collectively, these findings highlight the importance of enhancing the specificity of interventions that promote safe firearm storage practices...
Language: en |