Keeping Children Safe at Home: Parent Perspectives to Firearms Safety Education Delivered by Pediatric Providers

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to assess parent acceptance of firearms education delivered by clinical providers, determine whether parents engage in firearms safety dialog with their children, and evaluate reasons for ownership and storage behaviors. METHODS: tests. Parents owned firearms for self-protection and recreation (50%), self-protection only (38%), or recreation only (12%). Owners stored them unloaded (75%), used safety devices (95%), and stored them in the closet of the master bedroom (54%). CONCLUSIONS: Talking about firearms safety in a healthcare setting was not a contentious issue in the majority of our sample. Parents were accepting of provider-led firearms guidance regardless of ownership status. This provides an opportunity for providers to focus on effective messaging and time-efficient delivery of firearms safety education.