Firearm Owners' Preferences for Secure Storage Devices: Insights From Product Reviews

Securely storing firearms can prevent suicide, unintentional injury, and gun theft. However, fewer than half of the US firearm owners store all firearms securely. Ongoing efforts to promote secure storage by distributing locking devices could benefit from a robust understanding of how firearm owners' preferred qualities in storage devices. To gain insight into firearm owners' priorities in evaluating a storage device, we conducted a qualitative analysis of Amazon product reviews of firearm locking devices.

We analyzed reviews for the top five rated products in five categories of storage devices: lock boxes, installed gun safes (handguns), installed gun safes (long gun), cable locks, and trigger locks. We collected the 5 "most helpful" positive and critical reviews, limited to reviews by verified purchasers. Review text and characteristics were extracted. Reviews were open-coded to identify what device features were most salient to purchasers. The codebook was refined iteratively. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Coded data were summarized and key themes identified using content analysis.

We analyzed 250 reviews of 25 products, yielding 13 themes. Overall, sturdiness, ease of access, reliability, and resistance to theft were prominent priorities for firearm storage device purchases across device types.

Firearm owners value secure storage devices that allow quick, easy access while remaining robust to theft or damage. Devices that are simple to set up and easy to operate were best received by consumers. Efforts to promote secure storage of firearms may be more effective by considering firearm owners' preferences for storage devices.