Study Gives Anti-Gunners Bad News On Firearm Accident Prevention

A new study revealed that firearms safety education was far more effective at encouraging gun owners to securely store firearms than legislation was.

The study, published by Crime and Delinquency in June, sought to determine how prevalent firearms safety training and how many firearms owners kept their firearms secure. The study found that 90% of gun owners reported receiving at least informal firearms safety training.

“Within the United States, a substantial 90% of owners report receiving some form of instruction, typically divided into formal and informal tracks,” the study said. “Formal training generally encompasses structured hunter safety, self-defense, or professional courses. On the other hand, informal training, which was reported by roughly 70% of owners, is a form of cultural transmission passing through friends or family.”

Anti-Second Amendment groups like Giffords and Everytown have pushed for legislation that would hold people criminally responsible if a child gained access to a firearm. According to the groups, 26 states and the District of Columbia have laws that leave a gun owner subject to potential prosecution should a child gain access to the firearm.

The study, though, noted that the laws were not effective at increasing the rate at which firearms owners safely stored their firearms. Instead, the best predictor was having received firearms safety training at some point.

“The results from our multivariable model show that the strongest predictors of secure firearm storage were completing a form of gun safety training, either formal or informal, demonstrating that gun safety training and secure firearm storage are interconnected,” the study said. “Together, these findings suggest that most gun owners in the United States are well-versed in firearm safety practices and store their guns securely when they are not using them.”

“Another interesting finding from analyses was that having a state law requiring secure firearm storage was unrelated to gun owners’ storing their weapons securely. This confirms findings in prior research and suggests that policymakers should focus on other mechanisms to promote secure firearm storage,” the study added later.