In February 2024, Michigan enacted a safe storage law mandating secure firearm storage when minors are present, seeking to prevent children’s unintended access to firearms and ultimately curb firearm injury and death, the top cause of death in children in the United States.
Evidence-based interventions are needed to address this pressing public health issue, and researchers from the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health and Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention recently secured a $998,907 grant from the National Institute of Justice to evaluate a safe storage campaign program led by End Gun Violence Michigan. The campaign is a community-led, school-based secure firearm storage campaign in schools across Michigan that seeks to promote safe storage practices in adults and prevent adolescent firearm violence.
This work, which will begin in 2025, will be one of the first to rigorously assess the impact of school-based campaigns on secure firearm storage practices. Utilizing pre- and post-campaign surveys along with school administrative data, the research will measure changes in attitudes, norms, and behaviors among adults, and assess firearm-related incidents involving students. The study will involve 30 Michigan high schools in urban, suburban, and rural areas.
“In Michigan, we have community partners and youth who are ready to work alongside parents, students, and the school communities to promote firearm safety and evaluate how these campaigns can make a difference,” said Hsing-Fang Hsieh, research associate professor and co-director of the Education and Training Core at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. “By assessing the effectiveness of these initiatives, we hope to create a blueprint for successful implementation that can be utilized nationwide.”
By using schools as trusted community hubs, this initiative seeks to normalize secure firearm practices, fostering coordinated communication between school personnel, parents, and youth.
“This research empowers youth voices and leverages schools as trusted messengers, embodying key community-engaged approaches central to public health,” said Justin Heinze, associate professor of Health Behavior & Health Equity at the U-M School of Public Health and Director of the National Center for School Safety. Heinze and Hsieh are co-principal investigators of the study. “The goal is to create effective safe storage messages that resonate deeply with parents and community members, fostering meaningful and impactful behavioral change.”
The University of Michigan was also a recipient of a $1M National Institute for Justice grant to conduct a study on community perception of safety in Detroit.
