Posted on 06/04/2007 4:16:48 AM PDT by Pharmboy
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Few families store their firearms safely, according to a pediatric researcher at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Robert H. DuRant, Ph.D., and his colleagues' research study results are published in the June issue of Pediatrics.
"Over 70 percent of the families surveyed reported not storing their firearms safely in their residence," DuRant said. "This concerns us a great deal because having guns in the home increases the likelihood that they will be used in a suicide or unintentional injury. It's imperative that parents understand the necessity of storing guns safely in the home."
Storage patterns are most influenced by firearm type, family socialization with guns and the age of the child, DuRant said.
"Our research shows that unsafe gun storage is associated with families who were raised with guns in the home," he said. "They tend to be more comfortable with guns and are less likely to store them safely. We also found that families who had children aged 2 to 5 years and owned long guns were more likely to store guns safely than families with older children."
"Our primary recommendation is that parents should remove guns from the home," DuRant said. "However, if parents are unwilling to do that, they should lock all guns with gun locks and store them separately from ammunition."
Firearm ownership was highest in families with two adults in the home, according to the study. Families in rural areas are more likely to own long guns and families who own long guns only are more likely to store guns unlocked but store ammunition separately from guns. Families who owned hand guns were more likely to store the guns locked but to have the guns loaded.
"We are encouraging all pediatricians to talk with parents about safe gun storage practices," he said. "We want to prevent unnecessary deaths."
DuRant and colleagues administered the survey to 3,745 parents in 96 pediatric offices in 45 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. The offices were part of the Pediatric Research in Office Settings group. The survey measured family history of guns in the house, firearm types, storage behaviors and ownership.
### In addition to DuRant, Shari Barkin, M.D., Edward H. Ip, Ph.D., from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center; Joseph A. Craig, M.D. from Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics in Denver, Colorado, Victoria A. Weiley, M.I.S., from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Richard C. Wasserman, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Vermont, also participated in the study.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Media Contacts: Rae Bush, rbush@wfubmc.edu, or Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu, at (336) 716-4587.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University Health Sciences and Brenner Children's Hospital. The system comprises 1,238 acute care, rehabilitation, psychiatry and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report.
I wish I could remember what I did with the keys to my trigger locks???
Just tell the home invasion perp to give you a minute to find your keys...many of them are quite polite and will certainly be patient. ;-)
I always keep my guns locked (and loaded) ;)
>> “Our primary recommendation is that parents should remove guns from the home,”
Ah, so. Now he stops beating around the bush and gets to his point.
Invasive, intrusive, rude b@stards!
If a doctor asks me if I own guns, I will storm out of his office and report him/her to the state medical board.
If a pollster asks me anything over the phone about my owning guns, I will lie like a sonofab!tch!
Asking if you own guns or how many guns do you own is like asking how much money do you make or how much do you weigh.
My response to `how many guns do you own?’ is,
“More than I need, but not as many as I want!”
Infantile pablum from the Left again. Children raised with guns, taught how to safely use guns, clean and maintain guns, and respect guns will do just that.
The Left has done its level best to destroy personal responsibility since the 60’s. They succeeded. They created irresponsible imbeciles and then said—”see, we were right, people and guns are unsafe”.
Some day I will make a retirement tour of every known final resting place wherein the esteemed leadership of the Left in America have been interred. I will ensure I have an uncomfortably full bladder which expediency and comfort demand I immediately relieve. I will do so with gusto.
Being in reasonably good health I expect I will outlive 95% of the wretches responsible.
Might take my dog with me...
RWJF === gun grabbers; major funders of the Brady Bunch.
Nice pick-up...I missed that.
It’s the first thing I look for whan I see “studies” like this :)
At most, I give it four years before these leftists pass laws making owning weapons in homes with children felony child abuse.
I offered to pay my daughter and son $10 dollars each when they were 7 years old if they could work the slide. Heck, even my wife could hardly pull it back without really trying, my kids couldn't even get it to click open at all. I taught my kids never to touch it, but I also know how not to leave it to them to obey me, so I think this is a good happy medium between safety and accessibility.
I grew up in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Safe storage was that the guns were in Daddy’s room along with the ammo and none of that was to be touched. You could go in there and get some licorice, but never touch the guns. Such was the case (with or without the licorice!) in every household in town. No incidents ever reported. And it was a small town, so if anything gun-related ever happened everyone would have known about it. I’m not against safe storage, but properly trained children go a long way towards gun safety.
Safely stored in every room of my home, loaded and on the ready.
Makes you wonder how the country survived when safe firearm storage was making sure your loaded gun was hanging above the door instead of laying around.
And who asked him for his primary recommendation? And who is listening and who cares? Bunch of professional do-gooders and outside agitaters. What do you bet this group has some connection, whether individually or as a group, with the southern poverty law group? And the ACLU, of course. Well, our “well-funded gun lobby” will keep them at bay - support the NRA.
If it isn’t loaded it is nothing more than a club.
And, make sure your home is no higher than 5 feet high, as that increases the likelihood that they will be used in a suicide.
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