Firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death for US children and adolescents.¹ Parents’ secure storage of their firearms (locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition) is associated with a decreased risk of firearm injuries in children and adolescents (hereafter, children).² However, in focus groups, firearm-owning parents have said that (1) demonstrating responsible gun use in front of their children and (2) teaching children when and how they are allowed to access firearms not only are more crucial for firearm safety than secure storage³ but also reduce the need for firearm locks and safes.⁴ Using a sample of parents with firearms in or around the home, we analyzed in this study whether parental engagement with children about firearms is associated with storing at least 1 firearm unlocked and loaded.

We conducted a survey of a representative sample of adults from 9 states (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Colorado, and Washington) with varying geography, firearm ownership, firearm policies, and gun violence rates. Data were collected from June to July 2023 by Ipsos using KnowledgePanel, a probability-based panel representative of US adults, yielding a total sample of 7785 respondents (63% completion rate; 92% qualification rate). Ipsos created weights to reflect participants’ selection probabilities, raked to geodemographic distributions for adults in the participants’ home states, with benchmarks from the 2021 American Community Survey. Weights were trimmed and scaled to the total number of qualified respondents. Each participant was assigned an overall weight to be representative of adults across the 9 states. All analyses used this weighted data. The Rutgers University Institutional Review Board approved this study. Before beginning the online survey, all participants provided informed consent. We followed the reporting guideline.

We included participants who reported at least 1 firearm in or around the home and at least 1 child living in the home. Using svy commands in Stata 17 (StataCorp LLC) for weighted survey data, we calculated means (SDs) and frequencies for descriptive statistics and estimated unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models to assess whether each parental engagement was associated with storing a firearm unlocked and loaded. Models were adjusted for parental age, sex, race and ethnicity, veteran or current military status, educational level, household income, political beliefs, number of children in the home, living in metropolitan area, having a handgun, protection as primary reason for having firearms, number of firearms in the home, and state. We used listwise deletion for missing data (5%). Two-sided P < .05 indicated statistical significance.

The survey included 870 parents (415 males [47.7%], 455 females [52.3%]; mean [SD] age, 41.44 [8.95] years) (Table 1). Among these parents, 412 (47.3%) demonstrated proper firearm handling for their children, 321 (36.8%) had their children practice firearm handling under their supervision, and 324 (37.3%) taught their children how to shoot their firearms. After adjustment, each of these parental behaviors was associated with storing at least 1 firearm unlocked and loaded (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.03 [95% CI, 1.07-3.84]; AOR, 2.29 [95% CI, 1.23-4.29; AOR, 2.27 [95% CI, 1.20-4.31]) (Table 2).

In this study, parents who demonstrated and practiced proper firearm handling with their children and taught them how to shoot their firearms were more likely to store at least 1 firearm unlocked and loaded. Consistent with qualitative research results,^3,4 these findings suggest that some parents may believe that modeling responsible firearm use negates the need for secure storage. However, it is unknown whether parents’ modeling responsible behavior is associated with a decreased risk of firearm injury. Study limitations include the inability to control for children’s characteristics (eg, age, mental health concerns) and the possibility that findings are not generalizable to parents outside of the 9 states. Future research should examine diverse types of parental engagements around firearms and the association of such engagements with firearm injury in children.

Accepted for Publication: June 15, 2024.

Published Online: September 9, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.3055

Correction: This article was corrected on November 4, 2024, to fix a typographical error in the first paragraph.

Corresponding Author: Jennifer Paruk, PhD, New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, Rutgers University School of Public Health, 683 Hoes Ln W, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (jp2328@sph.rutgers.edu).

Author Contributions: Dr Paruk had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: All authors.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors.

Drafting of the manuscript: Paruk, Semenza.

Critical review of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.

Statistical analysis: All authors.

Obtained funding: Anestis, Semenza.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Anestis, Semenza.

Supervision: Anestis, Semenza.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Anestis reported receiving grants from the US Department of Defense, Henry Jackson Foundation, and New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services; book royalties from Oxford University Press; and personal fees from Center for Naval Analysis outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: Data acquisition for this study was paid with general funding received by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center from the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education in New Jersey.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Data Sharing Statement: See the Supplement.