"Love Our Kids, Lock Your Guns"

BACKGROUND: Safer storage practices may reduce injury rates by limiting youth access to firearms. OBJECTIVE: To determine if a firearm safety counseling and gun lock distribution program improved storage practices. DESIGN: Community-based before-after trial. SETTING: Urban county in central North Carolina. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred twelve adult gun owners recruited through a mass media advertising campaign. INTERVENTION: In the parking lot of a shopping mall, participants completed a survey, and were then provided with tailored counseling, gun safety information, a gun lock, and instructions to use it. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Firearm storage practices, assessed by survey and personal interview (baseline) and telephone interview (6-month follow-up). RESULTS: Most participants were white (62%), men (63%), had children (58%), and owned a gun for protection (74%). At follow-up, of the 82 participants, 63 (77%) (up from 39 48%) reported storing their gun(s) in a locked compartment (P =.004), 59 (72%) (up from 0) reported using gun locks (P =.001), 61 (74%) (up from 57 69%) reported storing their ammunition locked in a separate location, 59 (72%) (up from 52 63%) reported storing their gun(s) unloaded, and 6 (7%) (down from 15 18%) reported storing firearms unlocked and loaded. Participants with children were more likely at baseline to store weapons unlocked and loaded (38 59% vs 19 41%; P =.02) but were more likely after counseling to lock their weapons (29 58% vs 14 44%) and remove guns from the home (5 10% vs 0 0%). CONCLUSIONS: This program prompted reporting of safer firearm storage practices, particularly among parents. Longer follow-up, verification of self-reports and correct use, testing of gun locks, and monitoring firearm injury rates after distribution programs are needed to establish the public health potential of this approach.