253 - Association of Child Access Prevention and Safe Firearm Storage Laws with Youth Weapon Carrying

Publication Number: 2243.253

Crystal Craig, Golisano Children's Hospital at The University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, United States; Catherine Yount, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, United States; Cynthia M. Rand, Pediatrics, ROCHESTER, NY, United States

Background: Youth who carry weapons are at increased risk for experiencing violence. Child access prevention (CAP) and safe storage laws are one policy tool used to keep firearms inaccessible to children and youth, in order to prevent unintentional injury, suicide and youth-perpetrated homicide. However, little research has examined how CAP and safe storage laws impact weapon carrying behavior in youth.

Objective: This study examined the association of state CAP and safe storage laws and youth weapon carrying in a national sample of adolescents.

Design/Methods: We used the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System combined high school data from 2017-2023 to assess youth weapon carrying (guns, knives, clubs) in relation to state CAP/safe storage laws. CAP/Safe Storage laws were put into 2 groups: 1) states with no laws or those with reckless provision laws and 2) states with negligent storage or safe storage laws. The RAND State Firearm Law database was used to incorporate information regarding CAP/safe storage laws. Logistic regression assessed the relationship between these two variables. As covariates, we used the Giffords State Gun Score, a measure of a state's firearm policy environment, and state FSS ratio (firearm suicide to total suicide), as a proxy measure for state gun ownership.

Results: The sample included a total of 566,334 observations in 38 states with 296,687 responses for gun carrying (Table 1) and 504,111 responses for weapon carrying (Table 2). We found an overall 12-month youth gun carrying prevalence of 5.8% and a 30-day weapon carrying prevalence of 4.81%. Youth in states with CAP/safe storage laws had a 20% lower odds of weapon carrying at school in the past 30 days (OR= 0.80, 95% CI: 0.77-0.82, p= < 0.001) and 15% lower odds of carrying a gun in the last 12 months (OR= 0.85, 95% CI: 0.81-0.89, p= < 0.001) when we controlled for covariates (State Gun Score and FSS ratio). Stronger State Gun Scores were not associated with 30-day school weapon carrying (OR= 0.95, 95% CI: 0.99-1.02, p=0.09) but did show lower odds of gun carrying in the past 12-months (OR 0.86, 95% CI: 0.85-0.88, p= < 0.001) when controlled for state Gun Score and FSS ratio.

Conclusion(s): CAP and safe storage laws are associated with decreased youth weapon and gun carrying, independent of the state gun law environment. Implementing these policies is a feasible strategy for reducing youth violence.

Demographic Characteristics of Students Responding to Gun Carrying


Demographic Characteristics of Students Responding to Weapon Carrying