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Firearm Storage Practices of US Members of the American College of Surgeons.
- Source :
-
Journal of the American College of Surgeons [J Am Coll Surg] 2021 Sep; Vol. 233 (3), pp. 331-336. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jul 22. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Background: As a part of its firearm injury prevention action plan, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) surveyed the entire US ACS membership regarding individual members' knowledge, experience, attitudes, degree of support for ACS Committee on Trauma (COT) firearm programs, and degree of support for a range of firearm injury prevention policies. This survey included questions regarding members' prevalence of firearm ownership, type of firearm(s) owned, type of firearm(s) in the home, personal reasons for firearm ownership, and methods of firearm/ammunition storage.<br />Study Design: An email invitation to participate in an anonymous, 23-item survey on firearms was sent to all US ACS members (n = 54,761) by a contracted survey research firm. Cross tabulation of questionnaire items by demographic characteristics and chi-square analyses were performed with statistical significance p < 0.05.<br />Results: The overall response rate was 20.4% (11,147/54,761). Forty-two percent of respondents keep firearms in their home (82% long guns, 82% handguns; 32% high-capacity magazine fed, semi-automatic rifles); 75% keep guns for self-defense/protection, 73% for target shooting; 39% store firearms unlocked, and 32% store guns unlocked and loaded. Results vary by practice/training location, practice type, military experience, sex, age, presence of children in the home, level of training, and race/ethnicity.<br />Conclusions: A significant percentage of ACS members keep firearms in their home, and nearly one-third store firearms in an unlocked and loaded fashion. Safe storage is a basic tenet of responsible firearm ownership. These data present opportunities for engaging surgeons in efforts to improve safe firearm storage.<br /> (Copyright © 2021 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Adult
Aged
Family Characteristics
Female
Firearms classification
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Racial Groups classification
Racial Groups statistics & numerical data
Safety statistics & numerical data
Sex Factors
Societies, Medical statistics & numerical data
Surgeons classification
Surveys and Questionnaires statistics & numerical data
Veterans statistics & numerical data
Wounds, Gunshot prevention & control
Young Adult
Firearms statistics & numerical data
Ownership statistics & numerical data
Safety standards
Surgeons statistics & numerical data
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1879-1190
- Volume :
- 233
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of the American College of Surgeons
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 34303834
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2021.05.024