No abstract

This paper investigates: (1) whether high school students overestimate gun carrying by their peers, and (2) whether those students who overestimate peer gun carrying are more likely to carry firearms. Data come from a randomly sampled survey conducted in 2008 of over 1700 high school students in Boston, MA. Over 5% of students reported carrying a gun, 9% of boys and 2% of girls. Students substantially overestimated the percentage of their peers who carried guns; the likelihood that a respondent carried a gun was strongly associated with their perception of the level of peer gun carrying. Most respondents believed it was easier for other youth to obtain guns than it was for them. Social marketing campaigns designed to lower young people's perceptions about the prevalence of peer gun carrying may be a promising strategy for reducing actual gun carrying among youth.

A spate of suicides involving a just-purchased firearm led a statewide coalition of firearm dealers, firearm rights advocates, and suicide prevention professionals to discuss the role of gun shops in preventing suicide. The group developed and mailed materials for (1) firearm retailers on avoiding sales to suicidal customers and (2) their customers on suicide and firearm safety. All storefront retailers were identified (n = 65), visited unannounced 6 months after receiving materials, and asked to complete a survey. Nearly half (48%) had at least one campaign product on display. Belief that reducing a suicidal person's access to firearms might save a life was associated with displaying materials (69% vs. 41%, p = .06). Public health and gun groups can successfully collaborate on suicide prevention activities.

T he Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center has partnered with the city of Boston, Massachusetts to create a data system to track youth violence. The system provides continuing information about fighting, bullying, dating violence and gun carrying. Data from it show that many Boston adolescents are afraid on public transportation (as compared to home, school or street) and that most students widely overestimate the number of their classmates carrying guns. The system also provides data on neighbourhood variables such as collective efficacy. The system has been a success due to the mutual respect shown between the academic and city partners, and the mutual benefits it provides to both.

Objective-To examine whether firearms are more frequently stored loaded, unlocked, or both in households with adolescents only (aged 13-17 years) compared with households with younger children only (aged 0-12 years).Design-Random-digit-dial survey on firearms (n=2770). We computed bivariate associations between the presence of adolescents and firearm storage practices. Statistical significance was assessed using prevalence ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Setting-United States.Participants-Survey respondents with children (aged <18 years) who reported the presence of a household firearm.Main Outcome Measures-Prevalence of firearms in the home stored loaded and/or unlocked.Results-Of the 392 respondents, 22% had a loaded firearm, 32% had an unlocked firearm, and 8% had a firearm stored loaded and unlocked. Compared with households with younger children, households with adolescents only were somewhat more likely to store a firearm unlocked (42% vs 29%; prevalence ratio, 1.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.02), loaded (26% vs 20%; prevalence ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-1.91), or both (10% vs 8%; prevalence ratio, 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.64-3.19).Conclusions-Parents of adolescents appear to be more likely to keep household firearms stored unsafely, especially with regard to keeping firearms unlocked. This is of concern because most youth firearm injuries happen to adolescents. Firearm injury prevention programs should directly target parents of adolescents to promote safe firearm storage.Firearms are present in about one third of US households with children and youth. [1][2][3][4] Therefore, safe firearm storage practices-including keeping firearms stored unloaded and locked up-represent important safety behaviors. confer a degree of protection in the risks for suicide and unintentional injury. [5][6][7][8] In keeping with these findings, professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics 9 and the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 10 recommend that parents keep firearms stored unloaded and locked up.In the United States, 14% to 30% of households with guns and young or adolescent children (aged <18 years) have at least 1 loaded firearm, and about 43% contain an unlocked firearm. 1,3,4,11,12 A recent study 13 estimated that nearly 2 million US children live in homes with loaded, unlocked firearms. The home is the primary place from which young people obtain firearms that are used in unintentional and violent injuries, as well as a primary setting in which pediatric firearm injuries, especially suicides, take place. 7,8,[14][15][16] Keeping children and youth safe represents a strong motivation for parents to not have firearms in the home or to store them locked up and unloaded. [2][3][4]17,18 However, parents' perceptions of how likely their children are to get hurt with a firearm may vary based on characteristics of the child. Qualitative research shows that parents' expectations that their children will not play with or touch guns are based on beliefs abou...