SAFE STORAGE OF HANDGUNS - WHAT DO THE POLICE RECOMMEND

Objective: To ascertain the specific suggestions that local police dep artments in the United States give to parents who ask for advice about methods to safely store handguns. Methods: A cross-sectional, semistr uctured telephone survey was administered to a sample of 102 police de partments in the United States in cities with populations of 10000 or more, selected within blocks of cities of similar population size. An investigator, posing as a parent of 3-year-old and 10-year-old childre n, called departments seeking specific advice on how to safely store a handgun acquired for protection. Results: Usable responses were gener ated for 93 (91%) of the departments sampled. Only 3 departments (3.2% ) refused to give advice over the telephone. The most commonly suggest ed storage methods were trigger locks (55 departments [59%]), portable lockboxes for handguns (48 [52%]), and the separation of guns from am munition (30 [32%]). Seven percent of departments suggested removing t he gun from the household. Over half of those suggesting trigger locks and lockboxes considered these devices safe (35 [64%] for trigger loc ks and 27 [56%] for lockboxes) and yet rapidly accessible to an adult (36 [65%] for trigger locks and 36 [75%] for lockboxes). Responding po lice officers most commonly reported using the following storage metho ds at home: no storage method (31 [38%]), portable lockboxes (23 [28%] ), out-of-reach location (11 [13%]), separation of gun and ammunition (10 [12%]), and trigger locks (5 [6%]). Conclusions: Trigger locks are frequently recommended but infrequently used by police themselves at home. Portable lockboxes are frequently recommended as well as used by police.