Northwestern Receives Grant to Implement Secure Firearm Storage Program for Illinois Parents

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 healthcare 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, which is the leading cause of death among youth in the U.S. From 2013 to 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, PhD, chair and the Ralph Seal Paffenbarger professor of Medical Social Sciences and CHIBE affiliated faculty. “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.”