{"id":614419,"date":"2024-06-14T10:01:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T14:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/loaded-unlocked-guns-common-in-american-homes-study-finds-drugs-com-mednews\/"},"modified":"2024-06-14T14:24:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T18:24:45","slug":"loaded-unlocked-guns-common-in-american-homes-study-finds-drugs-com-mednews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/loaded-unlocked-guns-common-in-american-homes-study-finds-drugs-com-mednews\/","title":{"rendered":"Loaded, Unlocked Guns Common in American Homes, Study Finds – Drugs.com MedNews","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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Medically reviewed<\/a> by Drugs.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter<\/p>\n

FRIDAY, June 14, 2024 — In half of American homes containing a loaded gun, that gun is kept unsecured and ready for potential use, often with children in the home, new research shows.<\/p>\n

The finding is especially troubling given the link between gun accessibility and accidental child deaths, as well as rising rates of gun-related suicides in the United States, researchers said.<\/p>\n

“The presence of a firearm in the home has been associated with an increased risk for firearm homicide and suicide among household members,” wrote a team of researchers led by Norah Friar<\/a>. She’s an investigator with the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Violence Prevention.<\/p>\n

In the research, Friar’s team used federal survey data to track rates of gun ownership and storage practices in households in eight states: Alaska, California, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

They found widely varying rates of guns being kept in the home — from 18.4% of households surveyed in California to about 39% in Oklahoma and more than half (50.6%) of homes in Alaska. <\/p>\n

In most of the eight states surveyed, more than a third of homes that contained a gun also had children living in the home. In Alaska, that number rose to more than half. <\/p>\n

Guns that are unloaded and securely locked away pose little threat to children. But that wasn’t the case in many of the homes surveyed. <\/p>\n

Among households that contained a gun, about 44% of owners in North Carolina said the gun was loaded, as did about 40% of homeowners in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Nevada, the study found. <\/p>\n

Among households that contained at least one gun, rates of guns kept both loaded and unlocked ranged from almost 49% in Ohio to nearly 59% in Alaska, the study found. <\/p>\n

In roughly 40% of those cases in Alaska, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina and Oklahoma, a child was also living in the home. <\/p>\n

Those are all tragedies waiting to happen, Friar’s team said, since “previous research has demonstrated that most fatal unintentional firearm deaths among children and adolescents aged 1\u201317 years occur in a house or apartment, and that the firearms used were often stored loaded and unlocked and were discharged during play or when showing the firearm to someone else.”<\/p>\n

Even in the absence of children, the presence of a gun in the home is a known risk factor for suicide or homicide, the researchers added.<\/p>\n

The findings were published June 13 in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why do so many Americans keep a firearm at home, often loaded and insecurely stored? <\/p>\n

“One national survey of firearm owners found that concern about home defense was selected by 43% of respondents as a factor influencing gun storage,” the researchers noted.<\/p>\n

Friar’s team believes that more must be done to educate people about proper gun storage, to “decrease the risk for firearm-related injuries and deaths among persons with a firearm in the home, particularly children and youths.”<\/p>\n

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Sources<\/h2>\n