Safe Gun Storage
Safe gun storage refers to practices that limit accessibility to guns by unauthorized users and has the potential to reduce gun-related injuries and deaths.
Safe storage best practices include locking guns in a secure place such as a gun safe or cabinet or using safety devices such as trigger or cable locks. Research has demonstrated decreased risk for suicide among adolescents when guns are stored safely, and states with child access prevention laws that require guns to be stored in a safe manner have lower rates of adolescent suicide.
Key Statistic
More than half of all U.S. gun owners do not report storing all of their guns safely. Slightly more than half, or 55 percent, of gun owners with children under 18 reported storing all of their guns safely.
“Communicating with gun owners about the importance of safe storage is a challenging opportunity. If we are successful at improving storage practices among gun owners, particularly those with children in the home, we could reduce risks for gun violence and injury.”
– Cassandra Crifasi, Center Deputy Director
Select Journal Articles
- Effects of youth-focused firearm laws on youth suicides.
Webster DW, Vernick JS, Zeoli AM, Manganello JA. JAMA. 2004; 292:594-601. - Reexamining the association between child access prevention gun laws and unintentional firearm deaths among children
Webster DW, Starnes M. Pediatrics. 2000;106:1466-1469. - Storage Practices of US Gun Owners in 2016.
Crifasi CK1, Doucette ML1, McGinty EE1, Webster DW1, Barry CL. Am J Public Health. 2018 Apr;108(4):532-537. - Law, Ethics, and Conversations between Physicians and Patients about Firearms in the Home
McCourt, A. and Vernick, J. AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(1):69-76.