PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Vivian H Lyons AU - Miriam J Haviland AU - Deborah Azrael AU - Avanti Adhia AU - M Alex Bellenger AU - Alice Ellyson AU - Ali Rowhani-Rahbar AU - Frederick P Rivara TI - Firearm purchasing and storage during the COVID-19 pandemic AID - 10.1136/injuryprev-2020-043872 DP - 2021 Feb 01 TA - Injury Prevention PG - 87--92 VI - 27 IP - 1 4099 - http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/27/1/87.short 4100 - http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/27/1/87.full SO - Inj Prev2021 Feb 01; 27 AB - To better understand motivations behind purchase and storage of firearms during the COVID-19 pandemic, we used Amazon Mechanical Turk to conduct an online survey of individuals who did and did not purchase a firearm since 1 January 2020 in response to COVID-19. The survey was fielded between 1 and 5 May 2020. We asked about motivations for purchase, changes in storage practices and concern for themselves or others due to COVID-19. There were 1105 survey respondents. Most people who purchased a firearm did so to protect themselves from people. Among respondents who had purchased a firearm in response to COVID-19 without prior household firearm ownership, 39.7% reported at least one firearm was stored unlocked. Public health efforts to improve firearm-related safety during COVID-19 should consider increasing access to training and framing messages around the concerns motivating new firearm purchase.