Rutgers study finds brief firearm safety conversation can increase openness to temporary storage outside home
NEW JERSEY — A brief conversation about firearm safety can significantly increase some gun owners’ willingness to consider temporarily storing their firearms outside the home during periods of crisis, according to a Rutgers-led study.
Researchers at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers examined whether a roughly 15-minute safety intervention known as Project Safe Guard could increase willingness to temporarily store firearms outside the home during periods of heightened distress.
The study, published in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, analyzed data from 232 members of the Mississippi National Guard who had access to firearms in their homes.
Participants received either a Project Safe Guard conversation focused on firearm storage or a comparison conversation addressing other aspects of health and home safety. Researchers asked participants about their willingness to temporarily have someone they trust store their firearm if they or another person in their household became highly distressed.
Participants were surveyed immediately before and after the intervention and again three and six months later.
Researchers found that participants who received Project Safe Guard became significantly more willing to consider temporary out-of-home firearm storage if they became highly distressed. A smaller increase was observed when participants were asked about temporarily storing firearms elsewhere if another household member became highly distressed.
Among participants who initially said they were not at all willing to consider out-of-home storage, 56.5% of those who participated in Project Safe Guard reported at least some willingness immediately afterward, compared with 20.8% of those who received the comparison intervention.
“Many firearm owners are understandably hesitant to consider storing their firearms somewhere else, even when they recognize that a crisis could change how safe it is to have a firearm readily available,” said Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers and lead author of the study. “These findings suggest that a brief, respectful conversation about firearm safety can make people more open to this option, including people who initially rejected the idea entirely.”
The difference between the two groups was strongest immediately following the intervention and became less pronounced over time, researchers said.
At three months, 68.4% of participants who initially opposed out-of-home storage and received Project Safe Guard reported some willingness to consider it, compared with 36.4% in the comparison group. By six months, the difference had decreased and was no longer statistically significant.
Researchers cautioned that the study measured participants’ willingness to consider temporary out-of-home storage, not whether they actually stored their firearms elsewhere.
The study was also limited to members of the Mississippi National Guard, meaning the findings may not apply to all firearm owners. Researchers noted that not every Project Safe Guard session included a discussion of out-of-home storage and that legal and practical barriers to temporary firearm storage differ among states.
“These findings give us reason to think that lethal means safety counseling can help overcome one of the biggest barriers to out-of-home storage: getting people to consider it in the first place,” Anestis said. “The next step is to make temporary out-of-home storage easier to access and more familiar to firearm owners, so that increased willingness can translate into actual use when someone is experiencing a crisis.”
The findings build on previous research showing Project Safe Guard can increase secure firearm storage practices inside the home, according to Rutgers.
