How Are Guns Stored in King County Homes?

Across all of King County, more than 1 in 5 adults reported keeping a gun in or around their homes, including in a car or other motor vehicle.  But where they lived made a big difference: Keeping a gun at home was least likely in Seattle neighborhoods (14%) and most likely in rural areas in east and south King County, with the highest rate (43%) in Covington / Maple Valley and Newcastle / Four Creeks.

To help gun owners protect their children and neighbors against accidental shooting, access by children, firearm suicides, and firearm theft, Public Health – Seattle & King County is partnering with firearms retailers, elected and tribal leaders, local hospitals, and law enforcement on the LOK-IT-UP safe storage initiative.

The same survey that asked about keeping guns around the home also asked how those guns were stored. In 2015 —

• 43% of respondents with guns at home (about 150,000 people) said they stored at least one gun unlocked

• 31% (about 105,000 people) stored at least one gun loaded

• 15% (about 51,000 people) stored at least one gun unlocked and loaded

So we have room for improvement. While opinions are divided about gun legislation, we are united in wanting our children, families, schools, and communities to be safe.  

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For more information about LOK-IT-UP, see the 10/31/2017 Public Health Insider blog; for background information about gun-violence prevention, see King County’s Gun Violence Prevention Initiative. Communities Count has just introduced two new indicators, with interpretive narrative, under the Public Safety topic: Homes with guns  and Carrying weapons at school.  These indicators, plus data on Not feeling safe at school, are also available at Public Health’s Community Health Indicators site. The LOK-IT-UP site provides information on how to get discounts on storage devices and lock boxes through December of 2018.