Poor firearms-storage practices by many gun-owning parents are putting kids at serious increased risk for unintentional injuries and suicide, reports a new study with some alarming findings.
At their 2- to 11-year-olds' regular checkups, 3,745 parents participated in a survey at 96 doctors' offices in 45 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Nearly a quarter of the parents said they own firearms. But only a third of these said they store the guns safely — with the weapons locked or locked away and the bullets locked up and stored separately.
The study, using information collected from a practice-based research arm of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), also found that:
- parents of toddlers and preschoolers (ages 2 to 5) store their guns safely more often than those with older kids
- handgun owners were more likely to use gun locks, but were also more apt to keep their guns loaded
- parents with rifles or shotguns often said they keep their ammunition and firearms separate, but store guns in a hidden place, not in locked cabinets
Families with firearms were mostly white, living in rural regions, with two adults in the home, and an annual family income of $40,000 or more.
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