What Caregivers of Young Children Want to Know About Firearm Safety and Who They Prefer to Hear From: A Cross-Sectional Community Setting Study

OBJECTIVE: To engage caregivers of young children in a community health fair setting around interest in learning about firearm-related topics, including secure storage, and identify preferred sources, formats, and settings for receiving firearm safety information. METHODS: We surveyed 176 (63% firearm-owning) caregivers of young children attending "Pop-Up Safety Town," a clinic-community partnership designed to engage caregivers around injury prevention. Descriptive statistics, T-tests, 2-proportion z-tests, and repeated measures ANOVA were calculated to characterize preferences for learning about firearm safety topics, firearm-related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, and differences between firearm owners and non-owners. RESULTS: Overall, caregivers reported more interest in firearm safety strategies and other home defense options compared to secure storage; firearm-owning caregivers reported more interest in safe storage compared to non-owners. Across caregivers, firearm safety trainers and police officers were the most-preferred sources for learning about firearm safety. Caregivers endorsed email newsletters and short videos (eg, YouTube/TikTok) as preferred formats for receiving firearm safety information. Schools were the preferred setting for all caregivers. Overall, firearm owners reported greater comfort discussing gun safety topics with children and adults compared to non-owners. Caregivers supported talking with other adults about gun safety and varied in beliefs about whether young children could find a gun if it was hidden or out of reach. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest caregivers of young children are amenable to discussing firearm safety beyond the clinical setting. Employing trusted messengers of firearm safety information may complement existing clinic-based efforts to engage caregivers in discussions around secure storage.