Most Parents of Depressed Teens Keep Their Guns
"Many parents simply do not believe their child would attempt suicide," says Daniel Webster, ScD, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore. "My own research has shown that this is particularly true among gun owners. We know that we have a particularly big task at hand: First to convince people that guns in the home do present a risk, and second to get them to change their behavior."
Webster says there are devices on the horizon that potentially offer parents a safer way to store their guns. "Some of these devices work in such a way that only an authorized user would be able to make the gun fire," he says. "We know that typically parents are much more responsive to safer storage options than getting rid of a gun."
Both Webster and Kellerman identify lack of government funding for research related to gun issues as a big problem. Webster says, "The National Rifle Association is a very powerful lobbying organization and has kept the federal government from funding studies that would look at the effectiveness of locking devices in reducing gun accidents and suicides in the home. Foundations provide the primary means of support right now, but what's needed is public education to get people to realize the real risks of having guns in the home."