An important way to reduce firearm injuries and deaths is safe storage of firearms in the home. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends, “the most effective measure to prevent suicide, homicide, and unintentional firearm-related injuries to children and adolescents is the absence of guns from homes.”
The National Shooting Sporting Foundation offers similar safe storage recommendations as AAP, but does not recommend the absence of firearms in homes.
Researchers at the Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center (HIPRC), UW Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and the Department of Epidemiology of the University of Washington School of Public Health have written a new call to action published in the journal Pediatrics. The call emphasizes a need to increase research on effective and acceptable ways to safely store firearms to keep youth safe, while also incorporating voices of firearm stakeholders. It was published today, October 9, 2020.
“We hope that we will be able to make progress to finding a successful solution. This call highlights new avenues to consider, especially since we know safer firearm storage will save lives,” says Frederick Rivara, MD, MPH, Director of the Firearm Injury and Policy Research Program, and core faculty of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center.
Some recommendations made by the authors include:
“In order to make progress, we must partner with a variety of stakeholders, firearm-owning parents, and be flexible for how we think about safe storage,” Rivara says.
To read the complete call to action, click here.