Posted on 06/04/2007 4:16:48 AM PDT by Pharmboy
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Few families store their firearms safely, according to a pediatric researcher at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Robert H. DuRant, Ph.D., and his colleagues' research study results are published in the June issue of Pediatrics.
"Over 70 percent of the families surveyed reported not storing their firearms safely in their residence," DuRant said. "This concerns us a great deal because having guns in the home increases the likelihood that they will be used in a suicide or unintentional injury. It's imperative that parents understand the necessity of storing guns safely in the home."
Storage patterns are most influenced by firearm type, family socialization with guns and the age of the child, DuRant said.
"Our research shows that unsafe gun storage is associated with families who were raised with guns in the home," he said. "They tend to be more comfortable with guns and are less likely to store them safely. We also found that families who had children aged 2 to 5 years and owned long guns were more likely to store guns safely than families with older children."
"Our primary recommendation is that parents should remove guns from the home," DuRant said. "However, if parents are unwilling to do that, they should lock all guns with gun locks and store them separately from ammunition."
Firearm ownership was highest in families with two adults in the home, according to the study. Families in rural areas are more likely to own long guns and families who own long guns only are more likely to store guns unlocked but store ammunition separately from guns. Families who owned hand guns were more likely to store the guns locked but to have the guns loaded.
"We are encouraging all pediatricians to talk with parents about safe gun storage practices," he said. "We want to prevent unnecessary deaths."
DuRant and colleagues administered the survey to 3,745 parents in 96 pediatric offices in 45 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. The offices were part of the Pediatric Research in Office Settings group. The survey measured family history of guns in the house, firearm types, storage behaviors and ownership.
### In addition to DuRant, Shari Barkin, M.D., Edward H. Ip, Ph.D., from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center; Joseph A. Craig, M.D. from Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics in Denver, Colorado, Victoria A. Weiley, M.I.S., from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Richard C. Wasserman, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Vermont, also participated in the study.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Media Contacts: Rae Bush, rbush@wfubmc.edu, or Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu, at (336) 716-4587.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University Health Sciences and Brenner Children's Hospital. The system comprises 1,238 acute care, rehabilitation, psychiatry and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report.
“Our primary recommendation is that parents should remove guns from the home,” DuRant said.”
Where to start, where to start?
First, there is the overtly anti-gun premise of the author and this important factor is not even slightly veiled. Thus the bias of the “investigators” is immediately called into question.
Second, as any non-Liberal knows (and even Liberals should know), weapons are useless unless readily available. Why? Criminals prefer unarmed and unaware victims.
One can’t help wondering about the author - is he French by family origin? The name and spelling - DuRant is curious. “Du” is ‘you’ in that language. Hmmmn - “YouRant” seems all too apt for another “surrender monkey” calling for removal of guns by parents.
“Do it for the children” won’t stand critical analysis. Even assuming that removing guns would save a child’s life or prevent a shooting, given that protection of the family from crime is essential, we have to accept that some child deaths are the price of freedom - IF we refuse to train and discipline said children.
Fortunately, there is an inherent justice built into the American system. Children of hoplophobics are over represented in the population of gun related accident victims.
Dr. Durant seems to be denying the following stark reality:
In homes of those regularly described as “gun culture” members, there are far fewer such deaths than amongst the homes of the more “Liberal”, the more “Progressive”, ad nauseam.
That assumes that such people had at least sufficient notocord to have a gun in the first place.
When I grew up, I didn’t fear my fathers gun, I feared what would happen if I played with it. But, my father wasn’t a Liberal or a Progressive.
If Dr. DuRant thinks that a gun grabbing, “Do it for the children”, Nanny State gun ban will substitute for either traditional American parenting, or be acceptable to the majority of Americans, I suggest he study the number of states that have returned to Constitutional, historically proven, gun ownership AND have enacted laws to assure such rights.
>> our “well-funded gun lobby” will keep them at bay
Hope so!
That means we can fund both sides of the issue! ‘cause our “well-funded” (with OUR tax dollars) NIH gave him a grant for his $%^&* study...
Heh, heh, heh.....My 5 yr old has his own gun.
Did you read the story about childhood ear infections in the American Rifleman? No? I wonder why?
It’s nonsense to keep a gun collection out where any burglar can do a smash and grab. Ditto for the people who keep guns in a car and then forget to lock their doors. A friend was walking in a parking lot and he saw a 1911 laying on the seat of a jeep. I guess the guy had plenty of insurance.
You need a gun to answer a door at night or a shotgun for trouble then do so. For anything else, keep them locked in the best fireproof safe you can afford.
What a hydra!
I cannot disagree with this statement. However, a suicidal person having access to an automobile, a gas stove, a length of rope, or a bottle of acetominphen equally increases the likelihood that those objects will be used in a suicide.
Guns don't promote suicide any more than a spoon is to blame for Rosie O'Donnell being fat.
Locking the trigger, keeping the gun unloaded with the trigger lock engaged is exactly the same as not having a self-defense gun in the first place.
The over 2,000,000 incidents a year reported by the FBI of cases where a self-defense gun was used to deter or prevent crime is testimony that the average person knows more about safe firearm storage than they are given credit for.
Rather these people, who are out of their field, should be giving advise on safe ways to protect children. One of the best ways is a handy 12-guage sawed-off pump.
I gun safe my kids - because kid-safeing your guns doesn’t always work.
(Especially if my kids are anything like me when I was younger)
“More than I need, but not as many as I want!”
Remember: there is no such thing as having too many guns. There is no concrete definition for "too many". (see tagline)
“Our primary recommendation is that parents should remove guns from the home,”
Sorry, he's a decade late and a dollar short on his "expert says" game.
I gave up paying any attention whatsoever to anyone claiming to be an "expert" about the time I quit believing in the "I'll still respect you in the morning.." and "I'll pay you back on Friday..." lines.
You could try shooting the locks off.
The crown jewel of wisdom.
Keep all your guns except one in a good fire proof safe....keep the other (loaded) in the draw of your nightstand...if you must in one of those quick opening simplex lock storage lockups....
As a society, we are at far, far, greater risk of unsafe storage of liberals than anything else.
Back when I was single, living by myself and into it, I kept it next to my bed where it I could get to it if required. Then I met my wife, and like so many other men, found that I didn't have the time to stay proficient with it and could not get my wife interested in anything to do with firearms. Once the kids came along, it had to kept out of reach when they were little. Now my boy is 7 and can get to almost anyplace in the house if he knows there is something he wants to get to. Currently he doesn't know that I even have firearms, and if he happens to discover them, the trigger locks will at least stop him from pulling the trigger (they are unloaded). My guns are presently nothing more to me than sports equipment that don't get used anymore, and when I find a buyer who will pay a fair price, I will probably sell them, unless in the meantime a civil war starts here............
I thought you would appreciate it :)
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