The parents of 106 adolescents with major depression who participated in a randomized psychotherapy clinical trial were asked systematically about firearms in the home. Those who reported having firearms in the home were given information about the suicide risk conveyed by guns in the home and urged to remove them. The rates of gun removal and acquisition were assessed at the end of the treatment and over the subsequent 2-year naturalistic follow-up. Of those families that had guns at intake, 26.9 percent reported removing them by the end of the acute trial. Retention of firearms was associated with urban origin, marital dissatisfaction, and paternal psychopathology. Of those who did not have guns at intake, 17.1 percent reported acquiring them over a 2-year follow-up. Living in a two-parent household and marital dissatisfaction were associated with gun acquisition. The study concludes that families of depressed adolescents may often be noncompliant with recommendations to remove guns from the home despite compliance with other aspects of treatment. More efficacious interventions to reduce access to guns in the homes of at-risk youths are needed. 1 table and 45 references