Evaluation of a community-based safe firearm and ammunition storage intervention.

BACKGROUND: Safe firearm storage practices are associated with a lower risk of unintentional and self-inflicted firearm injuries among household members, though many firearms remain unlocked and/or loaded.
OBJECTIVES: Conduct a preliminary evaluation of a community-based firearm safety intervention and assess participants' preferences for firearm locking devices and their comfort with potential firearm safety counsellors. DESIGN/
METHODS: Baseline event and follow-up surveys among adult participants to assess changes in firearm storage practices, including whether all household firearms were stored locked, all were unloaded, all ammunition was locked, and a composite measure assessing whether all firearms were locked and unloaded and all ammunition was stored locked.
RESULTS: A total of 206 out of 415 participants completed both surveys and were included. Nearly 9 in 10 respondents preferred the firearm lock box rather than a trigger lock. At follow-up, a significantly greater proportion reported that all household firearms were locked (+13.7%) and unloaded (+8.5%) and a non-significantly greater proportion reported that all ammunition was locked (+6.3%). A significantly greater proportion reported practising all three safe firearm and ammunition storage practices at follow-up (+12.6%). A majority reported they would be comfortable or very comfortable discussing firearm safety with various safety counsellors, though women were less likely to do so than men.
CONCLUSION: This intervention that included distribution of a free, participant-selected locking device improved safe firearm storage practices among participants. Differences in participant preferences for devices and safety counsellors suggest that a 'one size fits all' approach may be inadequate in affecting population-level storage practices. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.