It is well known that the risks associated with keeping a gun in the home far outweigh any protective benefit the gun may have against intruders. The gun is much more likely to be used to kill someone the homeowner knows-a spouse, a child or even one's own self in a suicide-than to kill a stranger.
One way for people who keep a gun in the house to minimize that risk-or so it would seem-is to seek firearms training. Yet a study by Harvard School of Public Health researchers, which appeared in the Jan. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people who have received firearms training are significantly more likely to keep a gun in the home both loaded and unlocked. The researchers estimate that in approximately 10 percent of American homes a firearm is currently loaded and unlocked.
"Some individuals advocate mandatory training as a way to improve gun storage practices. Our study casts doubt on whether firearms training will substantially reduce the inappropriate storage of firearms," said David Hemenway, senior lecturer on political economy and the study's lead author.
In a random sample of 800 gun owners, Hemenway and his collaborators found that 29 percent kept a loaded gun in the house, and 21 percent said the gun was both loaded and unlocked. Guns owned for protection, and handguns-regardless of whether they are owned for protection-were more likely to be kept either loaded, or both loaded and unlocked.
A majority of the gun owners surveyed said they have received formal firearms training. Of those who have, 45 percent have had more than 80 hours, and 30 percent have had training within the past five years. Yet the owners who had received such training were nearly twice as likely to keep their guns both loaded and unlocked-an obviously dangerous way to store a firearm. The researchers found no relationship between the type of training (military, law enforcement or National Rifle Association) or the duration of training and the way guns are stored.
Previous studies have shown that many firearm fatalities are not premeditated, but occur during domestic arguments. Fatalities also frequently involve children playing with a loaded gun. Hemenway now intends to do research on the use of guns in self-defense.
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