Factors Associated With Parents Asking Other Parents About Firearms in the Home

Children living in homes with firearms face an increased risk of injuries.1,2 Approximately 40% of US households with children have a firearm in the home, yet only 44% of these households store firearms locked and unloaded, in the most secure possible manner.3,4 The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends counseling families regarding firearm injury prevention, including asking about firearms in places children visit (eg, playdates).1 The extent to which parents ask about firearms before playdates is unknown. In this study, we sought to determine if Illinois parents had ever asked about the presence of unlocked firearms in the homes their children visit.Data were collected in the fall of 2023 via online surveys administered in English and Spanish by using Qualtrics (Supplemental Information). Eligible respondents were 18 years or older, residing in Illinois, and the parent, stepparent, or guardian (hereafter called "parent") of at least 1 child <18 years old. To assess whether parents had asked other parents about firearms in the home, we asked the following question: "Have you ever asked another parent whether there is an unlocked firearm present in the home before your child had a playdate or went to a friend's home?" (yes/no). If a parent responded "no," they were asked an open-ended follow-up question: "Can you tell us why you haven't asked this?" Parents reported their self-identified age, gender, race and ethnicity, education level, household income, zip code, and children's ages. Given the differential risk of unintentional firearm injury across racial and ethnic groups in the United States,5 we assessed for differences in asking about firearms across these socially defined groups, which may inform targeted public health interventions. We calculated χ2 statistics to examine differences by demographic characteristics. Free-text responses were reviewed and grouped into themes by the study authors. The home institutional review board determined that the study was exempt.Survey responses were received from 1000 Illinois parents (Table 1). Most parents were female (65.5%), non-Hispanic white (59.4%), between 31 and 40 years old (46.9%), and from an urban region (81.6%). Most parents (61.5%) had never asked another parent about the presence of an unlocked firearm in their home. There was a lower likelihood of female parents reporting asking about firearms compared with male parents (33.6% vs 47.6%, P < .001), parents living in rural areas compared with those living in urban areas (25.7% vs 41.4%, P < .001), parents 41 to 50 years old (25.4%) and >50 years old (32.4%) compared with parents 18 to 30 years old (41.5%) and 31 to 40 years old (43.0%, P < .001), parents with a high school degree (34.1%) or some college (31.6%) compared with parents with a college degree (48.8%, P < .001), and parents with a household income of <$30 000 (33.9%) or $30 000 to $124 999 (36.4%) compared with those with a household income of $125 000 or higher (50.8%, P < .001). There were no differences based on parent race and ethnicity or the ages of the children in the home. The top reasons parents had not asked about firearms in the home included (1) never thought about it before (23.5%), (2) child does not attend playdates (21.9%), and (3) did not feel the question was appropriate to ask (9.8%) (Table 2).We found that most sampled Illinois parents did not ask other parents about the presence of unlocked firearms within their homes. Many parents reported they had not asked about firearms because it never occurred to them to do so. This highlights a critical need to raise awareness of this important question. Given that certain groups were found to ask about firearms less, targeted and culturally appropriate messaging through broader, accessible channels (eg, public service announcements, social media) is needed.Among children 0 to 14 years old, almost 20% of unintentional firearm-related deaths occur at a friend's home.6 Therefore, although counseling parents about the secure storage of firearms within their own homes is vital, limiting counseling to this topic may neglect to address a high-risk location for childhood firearm injury. Child health care professionals can model how parents may initiate these conversations with other parents, including by using open communication with direct questions (ie, the presence of a firearm in the home and related storage methods) and approaching the topic in the same way they would other child health and safety topics (eg, supervision, allergies).1,7,8Study limitations include the use of self-reported data, which may be susceptible to recall bias and social desirability bias, potentially leading to the overestimation of respondents asking about firearms. We only assessed whether parents had ever asked about firearms, not the frequency or consistency of this practice. Our sample is from a single state, which may limit generalizability.Child health care professionals should ask parents about the presence of firearms in all homes in which children live and play. The authors of future studies may examine the effectiveness of anticipatory guidance on parental conversations around firearm safety in the homes their children visit.