The surge in background checks in March 2020 suggested an acceleration in U.S. firearm purchases. This surveybased study estimated the number and describes characteristics of firearm purchasers ove... Visual Firearm Purchasing During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The surge in background checks in March 2020 suggested an acceleration in U.S. firearm purchases. This surveybased study estimated t... Background: The surge in background checks beginning in March 2020 suggested an acceleration in firearm purchases. Little was known about the people who bought these guns. Objective: To estimate th...

Objective. To determine gun storage practices in gun-owning households with children. Design. National random digit-dial telephone survey of 2521 households conducted in March 1999 through July 1999. This study uses a subsample of 434 households with children <18 years old in which a respondent reported either: 1) personally owning a gun, or 2) living in a gun-owning household but not owning a gun themselves. Respondents were asked whether any household gun was currently stored loaded, and, if yes, whether any gun was currently stored loaded and unlocked. Results. Twenty-one percent of gun owners compared with 7% of nonowners reported that a household gun was stored loaded, while 9% and 2%, respectively, reported that a household gun was stored loaded and unlocked. Nongun owners were significantly more likely than were gun owners to be female (87% vs 22%) and to report that they lived in a house with only 1 gun (70% vs 57%) and no handguns (51% vs 31%). Based on the reports of actual gun owners (n = 252), households with children <13 years old were significantly less likely to store a gun loaded and unlocked (multivariate odds ratio: .1; 95% confidence interval: .0,.4) than were households with teenagers only. Conclusions. We find that among gun-owning households with children, nongun owners report significantly lower rates of guns stored loaded and unlocked than do gun owners. These findings are consistent with recent studies that have found that married men are far more likely to report household gun ownership than are married women, and that gun users are far more likely to report that a gun is stored loaded or loaded and unlocked than are never users. Our findings suggest that nongun owners, the vast majority of whom are women (87%), may be unaware that guns in their homes are stored in a manner that experts agree is unsafe. Our findings reinforce the importance of many pediatricians9 current efforts to offer anticipatory guidance about firearms to gun-owning families, and, in addition, suggest that this guidance can be adapted depending on whether the physician is speaking with a gun-owning or nongun-owning parent. In particular, because gun owners (mostly fathers) are less likely to bring children to the pediatrician9s office than are nonowners (mostly mothers), physicians should take advantage of any opportunities that they have to address gun-related issues with parents who personally own guns. More commonly, physicians can encourage nongun owners to participate more fully in household decision-making about gun storage by letting them know not only about recommended storage practices, but also that many nonowners may not know how guns are actually stored in their own homes. firearm, storage, children, survey.

Gun theft is an important source of guns used by criminals. Yet no empirical work has focused on the characteristics of gun owners that distinguish those who have had their guns stolen from those who have not. In this study, we examine the demographics and behavioral characteristics of gun owners who report having had a gun stolen. Data come from a nationally representative probability-based online survey conducted in April 2015, with a linked follow-up survey in November 2015 that asked gun owners about any theft of their guns in the past 5 years. Of 1,604 gun-owning respondents, 2.4% (95% CI 1.6,3.6) reported that one or more guns had been stolen, with a mean number of guns stolen per theft of 1.5 (95% CI 1.0,2.0]. Risk factors for having a gun stolen were owning 6 or more guns, owning guns for protection, carrying a gun in the past month, storing guns unsafely, and living in the South region of the United States. The South accounts for 37% of US households, 43% of gun owners, and two-thirds of all gun thefts. We estimate that there are approximately 250,000 gun theft incidents per year, with about 380,000 guns stolen. We find that certain types of gun owners-who own many guns, who carry guns, and who do not store guns safely-are at higher risk to have their guns stolen. Tracing data show that states in the South are exporters of crime guns used in other states. Our survey results find that the majority of guns stolen in the US come from the South.