Firearms in the home: Parental perceptions

Background. Each year, thousands of children are injured or killed from uni ntentional gunshot wounds. Discovering a gun while playing in the home plac es children at risk of being injured by the firearm. Objectives. To determine parental firearm storage practices and parental pe rceptions of the behavior of their children around guns. Methods. Cross-sectional survey of parents of children from 4 to 12 years o f age. A sample of 424 parents, bringing their children to one of five pedi atric ambulatory care centers, were asked to complete a 20-point self-admin istered questionnaire at the time of their visit. Results. A total of 400 parents (94%) completed the questionnaire; 113 pare nts (28%) reported keeping a firearm (most often a handgun) in the home. Fi rearm owners were predominantly male, 30 years of age or older, white, and married. Of the gun owners, 52% stored their firearms loaded or unlocked, a nd 13% kept one or more guns loaded and unlocked. Three fourths of gun-owni ng parents believed that their 4- to 12-year-old child could tell the diffe rence between a toy gun and a real gun, and 23% believed that their child c ould be trusted with a loaded gun. Although the majority of gun-owning pare nts (53%) endorsed safe storage as the best firearm injury prevention strat egy, 61% of parents who do not own firearms endorse not owning guns as the best way to prevent pediatric firearm injuries. Conclusion. A majority of gun-owning parents store their firearms loaded or unlocked, substantially underestimating the risk of injury to their childr en. Many firearm-owning parents trust their child with a loaded gun and bel ieve that their young child can tell the difference between a toy gun and a real gun.