HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Aug. 5, 2021 (HealthDay Information) — U.S. gun gross sales elevated early within the COVID-19 pandemic, and plenty of of these firearms ended up in properties with teenagers, researchers say.
“This discovering is regarding as a result of we all know that the only largest danger issue for adolescent firearm accidents is entry to an unsecured firearm,” mentioned examine co-author Dr. Patrick Carter. He’s co-director of the Institute for Firearm Harm Prevention on the College of Michigan, in Ann Arbor.
A nationwide survey of major caretakers of youngsters discovered that 10% of these households purchased a gun between March and July of 2020, and three% turned first-time gun homeowners. The survey was carried out by the Firearm Security Amongst Kids and Teenagers (FACTS) Consortium.
In properties that already had a gun, new weapons had been extra prone to be purchased by those that already reported storing at the least one gun unlocked and loaded, in keeping with the examine.
It is not clear what prompted the rise in gun shopping for recognized within the survey, nevertheless it raises considerations, the researchers mentioned.
“This examine demonstrates that we now have extra work to do to assist households that have already got firearms, or might buy new firearms, to cut back the potential dangers to their kids by selling safer storage practices that assist to cut back the chance of minor firearm damage and dying,” Carter mentioned in a faculty information launch.
Every year, almost 50 out of each 100,000 U.S. excessive school-age teenagers are injured by weapons and 10 out of each 100,000 are killed. Teenagers in that age group usually tend to die from a gun damage than some other trigger, the researchers added.
There was no affiliation between the mental health standing of oldsters or teenagers and the probability of shopping for a gun. Nonetheless, one in seven (14%) of the households that purchased a gun within the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic additionally had a teen with depression symptoms, in keeping with the survey.
The examine findings have important implications for public well being. The outcomes had been revealed on-line lately within the Journal of Behavioral Medicine.
Examine co-author Marc Zimmerman, co-director of the Firearm Harm Prevention Institute, mentioned, “If we all know that households are storing firearms unsafely and that a certain quantity of them have teenagers who’re experiencing melancholy, that may inform how we’d tailor messaging round secure storage to households at elevated danger.”
Extra info
The American Academy of Pediatrics has extra on guns in the home.
SOURCE: College of Michigan, information launch, July 30, 2021
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