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Parental attitudes toward BB and pellet guns
D T Damore1, M L Ramundo, J P Hanna
1Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron, Ohio, USA.
Insights
Parents often misperceive the dangers of BB and pellet guns, leading to unsupervised injuries in children. Education is crucial to prevent harm from these nonpowdered guns.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Injury Prevention
- Public Health
- Consumer Product Safety
Background:
- BB and pellet guns cause significant pediatric injuries.
- Parental perception of risk associated with these guns is not well understood.
- Unsupervised use of BB and pellet guns by children is a common scenario.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe pediatric BB and pellet gun injuries and their circumstances.
- To evaluate parental perceptions of the dangers of BB and pellet guns.
- To compare perceptions across parents of injured children, children with guns, and children without guns.
Main Methods:
- Prospective enrollment of three parent-child groups at a children's hospital.
- Groups included: injured, gun owners (uninjured), and no gun owners.
- Surveys assessed parental attitudes and perceptions of BB and pellet gun dangers.
Main Results:
- Most injuries occurred in adolescent males at home, unsupervised, often by a friend or self-inflicted.
- Parents of injured children and those without guns perceived them as more dangerous than gun-owning parents.
- Parents allowing gun possession underestimated injury potential and unsafe usage.
Conclusions:
- Parents who permit BB and pellet gun ownership may misjudge the risks.
- Lack of adult supervision exacerbates injury potential.
- Healthcare providers should educate parents on the significant injury risks of nonpowdered guns.
Abstract:
As well as describing our pediatric BB and pellet gun injuries and the circumstances surrounding these injuries, we also evaluated parental perceptions of the dangers of BB and pellet guns. A convenience sample of three groups of parents and their children presenting to a Midwest, urban, children's hospital emergency department was prospectively enrolled. The three groups of parents included the injured group, which consisted of the parents whose children had been injured by BB or pellet guns; the gun group, which consisted of the parents who allowed their children to possess BB or pellet guns but had not sustained injury from these guns; and the no gun group, which consisted of the parents who did not allow their children to have these guns. All parents completed a survey concerning their attitudes toward BB and pellet guns. Twenty-eight parents completed questionnaires in each of the three groups. Most BB and pellet gun injuries occurred in adolescent males at home without adult supervision and were inflicted by a friend or by themselves. The injured group and the no gun group viewed BB and pellet guns as significantly more dangerous than the gun group. Parents who allow their children to have BB or pellet guns appear to misperceive their potential for injury by allowing their children to use these guns in an unsafe manner. Clinicians must educate parents about the significant potential for injury of nonpowdered guns.