Nearly one-third of kids in Colorado say they could access a loaded firearm without adult permission, according to a new study by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health.
But just as significant is how those kids report they could obtain that firearm. While a slight majority — 53% — say they could access the firearm within their own home, others said they could get a loaded gun from an extended family member, from a friend, or through purchase or theft.
The new study is the first to look in more detail at ways Colorado kids say they could obtain loaded guns. The researchers hope the findings will inform future public health efforts to protect kids from firearm-related harms.
“It’s not just about a parent’s decision about what they’re doing in their home or what they teach their kid about firearm safety,” said Ashley Brooks-Russell, an associate professor at the School of Public Health who worked on the study and is the director of the school’s Injury and Violence Prevention Center. “It’s about the whole community.”
The study was published last month in JAMA Network Open.
Data for the study comes from the 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, an every-other-year look at a wide variety of health-related issues for children. The study is funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the 2025 version will launch in participating schools in the fall.
The issue of gun access is important because firearm-related injuries — especially from suicide, but also from violence or accident — are one of the leading causes of death for young people in Colorado. From 2020 through 2024, more people ages 24 and younger died from firearm-related injuries — 940 — than from transportation accidents — 818 — according to state data.
Diving more deeply into how kids are able to obtain loaded guns can help better focus public health messages.
For instance, the researchers found that the demographic groups who reported the highest rates of being able to access firearms in their homes — kids who are white and kids who live in rural areas — align with the groups at highest risk of firearm-related suicide. Kids more likely to report being able to obtain a loaded firearm outside the home — those in urban areas and those who are Black, Hispanic or multiracial — are also at the highest risk of firearm-related homicide.
Erin Wright-Kelly, another of the researchers on the study, said one thing the study highlights is the importance of parents having conversations with other families about firearms when their children play or have sleepovers at a friend’s house.
While that may sound awkward, Wright-Kelly said the conversation can fit into discussions parents already have about safety. And the new study will help refine public health messages around guns — such as the state’s Let’s Talk Guns Colorado campaign.
“If you can get the right language, people are definitely comfortable having that conversation,” Wright-Kelly said.