GUNSImplementing Secure Firearm Storage Program for Illinois Parents
Firearm injury and mortality are the leading cause of death among youth in the U.S. From 2013-2020, firearms contributed to a staggering cumulative loss of 1.3 million years of life for young people.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $3.3 million over five years to Northwestern University to study the implementation of an evidence-based secure firearm storage program. The study will focus on community health centers, which serve individuals who have limited access to health care and those who often experience health inequities. Parents at these health centers will receive counseling around secure firearm storage and free cable locks.
The ultimate goal of implementing this program is to reduce firearm injury and mortality, the leading cause of death among youth in the U.S. From 2013-2020, firearms contributed to a staggering cumulative loss of 1.3 million years of life for young people. Secure firearm storage programs have several known benefits. They are low-cost, scalable, non-politically divisive, and, most importantly, can reduce firearm injury and mortality.
“Health centers serve our highest-need populations,” said principal investigator Rinad Beidas, chair of the department of medical social sciences and the Ralph Seal Paffenbarger professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Our team will collaborate with key constituents to best understand how clinicians can engage parents around secure firearm storage in a way that recognizes their lived experiences. For example, how to securely store firearms in the event of insecure housing, or in the face of extreme community violence.”
‘Partnering with Powerhouses in Illinois’
In the study, Northwestern scientists will partner with AllianceChicago, a nonprofit dedicated to community health care, focusing on care delivery transformation, technology, data and analytics and research and evaluation, and the Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA), the statewide association for community health centers in Illinois that serve all patients — regardless of their income, insurance or immigration status — and provide a trusted medical home for 1.5 million Illinois residents. Together, the teams will deliver an adapted version of S.A.F.E.(Suicide and Accident prevention through Family Education) Firearm, an evidence-based program that includes brief counseling about secure firearm storage between a clinician and parent and free cable locks, which will provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) through its lock distribution program.
