State expansion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility and rates of firearm-involved deaths in the United States.

INTRODUCTION: Poverty is a consistent correlate of firearm-involved mortality, yet little work has considered the effects of social and economic policies on these deaths. This study examined associations of state elimination of the asset test and increases in the income limit for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility with rates of firearm-involved suicide and homicide deaths in the United States. METHODS: This ecological repeated cross-sectional study used 2015-2019 data from the SNAP Policy Database and death certificate data from the National Vital Statistics System. The exposures were (1) state elimination of the asset test for SNAP eligibility and (2) state elimination of the asset test and increases in the income limit for SNAP eligibility, compared with (3) state adoption of neither policy. The outcomes were firearm-involved suicide deaths and firearm-involved homicide deaths. The research team conducted mixed-effects regressions to estimate associations. RESULTS: State elimination of the asset test for SNAP eligibility (incidence rate ratio (IRR), 0.67; 95% CI, 0.48 to 0.91) and state adoption of both eliminating the asset test and increasing the income limit for SNAP eligibility (IRR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.92) were associated with decreased rates of firearm-involved suicide deaths compared with state adoption of neither policy. There were no associations with state firearm-involved homicide rates. CONCLUSIONS: SNAP is an important social safety net programme that addresses food insecurity, and the present results suggest it may also contribute to reducing firearm-involved suicide.

Associations between experiencing violence, owning a firearm for protection and firearm storage: a nationally representative analysis of US caregivers of teens.

OBJECTIVE: To study the interaction between violence exposure and motivations for firearm ownership in their associations with firearm storage among caregivers of teens in the United States. METHODS: In June-July 2020, we conducted a national survey of 2924 caregivers of US teens. We estimated multivariable logistic regressions among caregivers who owned a firearm (n=1095) to evaluate associations between the exposures of community violence, interpersonal violence, and firearm ownership motivations (protection motivations vs non-protection motivations) and the outcome of firearm storage patterns (locked and unloaded vs unlocked and/or loaded). We assessed for a potential interaction between violence exposures and motivations for firearm ownership in their associations with firearm storage. RESULTS: We observed no associations between community (adjusted OR [aOR]: 0.86; 95% CI [0.55 to 1.36]) or interpersonal violence exposure (aOR: 0.60; 95% CI [0.22 to 1.65]) and firearm storage behaviours, and these associations did not vary according to firearm ownership motivations (relative excess risk due to interaction: -0.09 [-1.90 to 1.73]; -2.04 [-6.00 to 1.92]). Owning a firearm for protection was associated with increased odds of storing at least one firearm unlocked and/or loaded (aOR: 3.48; 95% CI [2.11 to 5.75]), and this association persisted across all strata of violence exposures (aORs: 1.51-3.98; 95% CIs [0.52 to 8.31]-[1.96 to 8.08]). CONCLUSIONS: The motivation to own a firearm for protection was associated with storing a firearm unlocked and/or loaded. The results suggest the associations between violence exposure and firearm storage are more complicated than anticipated because (1) exposure to violence was not associated with firearm storage practices and (2) motivations for firearm ownership do not appear to explain why people differ in firearm storage following violence exposure.

Motivations for firearm possession and storage practices among urban young adults: differences between parents and non-parents.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate motivations for firearm possession among urban young adults and determine if differences emerge between parents and non-parents, and to identify if storage practices differed according to motivation for firearm possession and parenting status. METHODS: We used cross-sectional data among young adults seeking urban emergency department treatment at Hurley Medical Center between 2017 and 2018. Our analyses, completed in 2020, included 194 firearm-possessing young adults, 95 of whom were young parents. RESULTS: Firearm-possessing parents were more likely to have a firearm for protection, than for any other motivation, compared with firearm-possessing non-parents (OR: 2.38, 95% CI 1.06 to 5.46). A significant interaction between parenting status and motivation for possession indicated the association between protective motivations and locked storage was significantly different between parents and non-parents, whereby there was a decreased odds of locked storage among non-parents who were motivated to possess a firearm for protection compared with any other motivation, but this association did not exist for parents (interaction OR=10.57, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Parental motivation for possessing a firearm most often lies in the desire to protect families. This motivation, however, does not necessitate unsafe storage.