In a study examining the impact of firearm violence on rural adolescents, researchers found that 35% of those surveyed had experienced a school lockdown due to a potential firearm or other violence. The study, “Rural Teen Exposure to Firearm Violence,” published in the November 2025 Pediatrics (online on Oct. 23), surveyed approximately 3,300 attendees aged 13-18 years at the 2021 National FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) Convention & Expo in Indianapolis about their personal exposure to firearm-related violence and their attitudes about gun safety. One in 10 respondents reported having personally seen someone threatened with a firearm and nearly half (46%) knew someone who had been killed or injured by a firearm. Respondents were asked how much they agreed with statements regarding firearm safety such as “There should be laws that require safe storage (both locked and unloaded) of firearms in the home” and “Parents should ask families where their children play or visit whether they have firearms stored unlocked.” The likelihood of agreeing with almost all of these statements was significantly higher among those who reported experiencing a school lockdown. For example, respondents who had experienced a school lockdown were 1.5 times more likely to agree with the creation of a national database of privately owned firearms. They were also 1.3 times more likely to agree with background checks for firearms sales and gifts between private citizens, firearm safety courses prior to first firearm purchase, and laws requiring safe storage. Those who experienced a school lockdown also were more likely to agree that parents and healthcare providers should ask about safe storage in homes where children are present. Respondents who personally knew of someone killed or injured by firearms had a 1.8 times higher likelihood of believing that firearms make a home safer—a belief strongly contradicted by the evidence. The authors state that these respondents may have accepted a widely held cultural belief that firearms in the hands of the “right” people make everyone safer, including in the home. This belief runs counter to evidence that firearms in the home increase the risk of unintentional (accidental), homicidal, and suicidal injury for all residents. Authors state this data is essential to understanding rural adolescents’ beliefs about gun safety and can inform future firearm-related injury prevention strategies for this demographic.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.