Published online August 31, 2005
PEDIATRICS Vol. 116 No. 3 September 2005, pp. e370-e376 (doi:10.1542/peds.2005-0300)
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ELECTRONIC ARTICLE

Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practices in the 50 States and the District of Columbia: Findings From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002

Catherine A. Okoro, MS*, David E. Nelson, MD, MPH*, James A. Mercy, PhD{ddagger}, Lina S. Balluz, ScD*, Alex E. Crosby, MD, MPH{ddagger} and Ali H. Mokdad, PhD*

* National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
{ddagger} National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

Objectives. To examine the prevalence of household firearms and firearm-storage practices in the 50 states and the District of Columbia and estimate the number of children exposed to unsafe storage practices.

Methods. We analyzed data from the 2002 cross-sectional Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey of 240735 adults from randomly selected households with telephones in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Results. Nationally, 32.6% of adults reported that firearms were kept in or around their home. The prevalence of adults with household firearms ranged from 5.2% in the District of Columbia to 62.8% in Wyoming (median: 40.8%). The prevalence of adults with loaded household firearms ranged from 1.6% in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New Jersey to 19.2% in Alabama (median: 7.0%), and the prevalence of adults with loaded and unlocked household firearms ranged from 0.4% in Massachusetts to 12.7% in Alabama (median: 4.2%). Among adults with children and youth <18 years old, the prevalence of loaded household firearms ranged from 1.0% to 13.4% (median: 5.3%), and the prevalence of loaded and unlocked household firearms ranged from 0.3% to 7.3% (median: 2.3%); in each instance, Massachusetts had the lowest prevalence and Alabama had the highest. Findings indicate that ~1.69 million (95% confidence interval: 1.57–1.82 million) children and youth in the United States <18 years old are living with loaded and unlocked household firearms.

Conclusions. Substantial state variations exist in the prevalence of household firearms and firearm-storage practices. It is vital that surveillance systems such as the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System continue to monitor the prevalence of household firearms and firearm-storage practices so that future interventions to promote safe storage of firearms can be evaluated and more widely implemented based on their efficacy.

Key Words: firearms • children • youth • behavior • risk taking • telephone • BRFSS

Abbreviations: BRFSS, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System • CI, confidence interval

Accepted Apr 8, 2005.


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