Education increases odds parents will ask about guns in homes their kids visit

Key takeaways:

• Parents were more likely to ask about the presence of firearms after learning about them from a variety of sources.
• Pediatricians have the opportunity to protect children by educating parents on firearm safety.

HONOLULU — Parents who learned about firearm safety were significantly more likely to ask about the presence of guns in homes their children visited, according to findings presented at PAS 2025.

“Firearms are the leading cause of death among children in the United States,” Maya Haasz, MD, FAAP, associate professor of pediatrics in the section of pediatric emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told Healio. “By decreasing children’s access to firearms, we make it less likely that they will be injured by a firearm. This includes decreasing access to firearms within a home but also at homes children visit — more than one in five unintentional firearm injuries among children occur at another home.”

Haasz and colleagues studies the responses of 1,591 parents to a Gallup Poll from May and June 2023 about firearm safety education. They specifically looked at where parents were learning about firearm safety — for example, schools, other parents, social media, health care providers — and how likely parents were to ask about firearms in places their children visit.

Overall, 29.6% of parents had asked whether there were firearms in homes their children visited. According to the researchers, parents who had learned about firearm safety were more likely to ask, no matter where they received the information from.

Learning from other parents and their child’s school or day care provider tripled the odds that parents would ask about firearms (OR = 3.3; 95% CI, 2.2-5; and OR = 3; 95% CI, 1.6-5.7, respectively), Haasz and colleagues reported. Additionally, parents were twice as likely to ask if they learned from social media (OR = 2.3; 95% CI, 1.5-3.3), a family member (OR = 2.2; 95% CI, 1.6-3) or a health care provider (OR = 2.2; 95% CI, 1.3-3.8).

Other information sources that increased parents’ odds of asking included work training (OR = 1.8; 95% CI, 1.2-2.6) and a class (OR = 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2-2.4).

“I was surprised that caregivers were more likely to ask about firearms in homes their children visited no matter where they heard information about firearm safety — whether it was their doctor, their child’s school or from another parent,” Haasz said. “This is an exciting opportunity because it means that every single person can help keep children safe around firearms.”

Just like speaking with parents about car seats and smoke detectors, Haasz said pediatricians should talk to families about firearm safety.

“This means explaining the dangers of youth being able to access firearms, making a plan to prevent their child from accessing firearms in their home or elsewhere and talking about what their child should do if they see a firearm,” she said.

References:

• Haasz M, et al. Caregivers’ asking about firearms in homes that youth visit: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey. Presented at: Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting; April 24-28, 2025; Honolulu.
• Study: Education improves in-home gun safety. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1081700. Published April 25, 2025. Accessed April 27, 2025.

For more information:

Maya Haasz, MD, FAAP, can be reached at maya.haasz@childrenscolorado.org or on X at @MayaMD4Kids.