Firearms storage

Points out that the United States has the world s highest rates of firearms-related injury and death. Strong action is needed to address this public health problem, including gun owner training, safety, and storage requirements. 

Senturia, Yvonne D., et al. Gun Storage Patterns in U.S. Homes with Children A Pediatric Practice-Based Survey. Archives of Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine, vol. 150, March 1996, pp. 265ff. Finds that the majority of gun owners do not lock up their guns and that persons who use guns at work or for self-protection are most likely to have them loaded at home. The authors suggest that children s doctors talk to parents about the need to store firearms safely. 

Wolcott, Jennifer. Parent-to-Parent Is the Gun Safely Stored The Christian Science Monitor, May 26, 1999, p. 15. Discusses approaches to parents talking to their neighbors about the safe storage of firearms. The recent school shootings can provide a springboard for such discussion while concern is high. 

Cummings, Peter, et al. State Gun Safe Storage Laws and Child Mortality Due to Firearms. yHALd, The Journal of the American Medical Association,... 

Nelson, David E. Population Estimates of Household Eirearm Storage Practices and Eirearm Carrying in Oregon. JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 275, June 12, 1996, pp. 1744-1748. Gives a percentage breakdown of households with firearms stored in various ways (such as loaded and unlocked) and of firearm carrying. Nelson also gives correlation with alcohol use. 

It must give consistent performance under varying conditions of storage and climate, and it must not deteriorate with age (this is especially applicable to propellants for military use which can be stored as a war reserve for a long period of time). It must also not ignite when in the chamber of a very hot firearm for a considerable period of time. (This also applies to priming compositions.)... 

A substantial amount of laboratory research involves materials considered, in the legal sense of the term, as explosives rather than simply chemicals which can explode under appropriate conditions. The term explosive in this relatively rrarrow sense is defined as any material determined to be within the scope of Title 18, United States Code, Chapter 40, Importation Manufacture, Distribution and Storage of Explosive Materials, and any material classified as an erqrlosive by the Department of Transportation in the Hazardous Material regulations (Title 49 CFR, Parts 100-199). A list of the materials that are within the scope of Title 18, United States Code, Chapter 40 is published periodically by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

Strict control of the use of tools and ammunition is needed to prevent injury to users and others in the vicinity. Secure storage is needed for cartridges, and the general principle to follow is to treat the tools and the cartridges as firearms. Users should be asked to justify the need for high-power cartridges. 

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