Funded Projects

Secure Firearm Storage in Vermont

Project Year

2024

City & State

Burlington, Vermont

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

Injury & Violence (LHI)

Program Description

In 2023, Vermont passed a Child Access Prevention law that may result in criminal prosecution if a firearm is not stored securely and a child or prohibited person gains access. Since then, awareness campaigns have been limited due to budget and time constraints and many Vermonters do not know it exists. Concurrently, the Vermont District of the US Attorney’s Office initiated a program to provide free cable gun locks at sheriff’s offices and libraries around the state. There is interest from communities around the state to join in this program. Some community centers and pediatrics offices also distribute free cable locks with corporate or private funding. Additionally, a website was developed (gunsafevt.org) that shares information about the new law, locations of distribution sites for free cable locks, and locations of firearms dealers that provide out-of-home temporary gun storage.   I am seeking a grant to help spread awareness of the Child Access Prevention law and how to comply. I plan to use the funding to print tags to attach to the free cable locks with a “Did you know?” message summarizing the new law and a QR code linking to gunsafevt.org. I would also like to have eye-catching display materials made that include a summary of the law and an optional physical sign-up sheet to obtain contact and demographic information of those who take a lock. I plan to provide libraries and towns with social media resources so they can easily create posts that advertise the distribution sites.  The literature supports better follow through with safe gun storage when storage devices are provided up front versus offering a voucher for storage devices that require one to go out to the store. While we can know the number of locks distributed by monitoring inventory at each site, I would also like to collect contact and demographic data on an optional basis from those who take a lock. In addition to physical sign-up sheets at distribution sites, I would create an optional web form that pops up in front of gunsafevt.org to collect contact information from those who use the QR code. We can also tally the total number of QR codes uses to understand how many people we are driving to gunsafevt.org.  If the program is successful in distributing gun locks and driving traffic to gunsafevt.org, I’d like to help expand the free gun lock program to schools, pediatrics offices, and community centers across the state while also equipping families with knowledge about the safety and legal ramifications of improper storage. There are roughly 183,000 children and adolescents age 0-24 in the state of Vermont and 41% of households with children contain guns. By gathering and presenting data that supports the effectiveness of the program, I hope to be able to raise more funding from community or national foundations to purchase and distribute more locks to as many of these households as possible. 

Project Goal

Reduce firearm injury and death in children and adolescents in Vermont.

Project Objective 1

Spread awareness of the new Vermont Child Access Prevention law by creating display materials and tags with referrals to local resources on secure storage best practices and locations for temporary out-of-home firearm storage via gunsafevt.org.

Project Objective 2

Print materials and place at 33 community partnership sites offering free cable locks throughout the state within 6 months of grant disbursement. Survey community partner distribution sites 3 months into program. 

Project Objective 3

Work in partnership with task force to find sustainable funding source for continued cable lock distribution and to promote program through social media and traditional media channels.

AAP District

District I

Institutional Name

University of Vermont Medical Center

Contact 1

Kelly Blanchet, MD