Physicians Play an Important Role in Reducing Firearm Injury and Death

By MMS Health Policy and Public Health Department

It happens in hospitals and schools, at concerts and movies, in places of worship and business.

Firearm injury and death are daily occurrences in the United States. There were 39,773 gun deaths in 2017, an increase of more than 1,000 from the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and nearly two-thirds were suicides. Even here in Massachusetts, where we have the nation’s strongest gun laws and lowest firearm death rate, the number of fatalities from firearms rose from 242 in 2016 to 262 the following year. What can the physician community do to help? Plenty.

Physicians, and pediatricians particularly, should be emphasizing safe firearm storage to their patients and their families — the same message they deliver about cleaning products. Additionally, primary care physicians are often the first to see or recognize signs of behavioral health issues, suicidal ideation, or a propensity for violence; at the very least, physicians should engage the patient in a conversation about what’s going on and involve others if there is reason for alarm.

The MMS Stance on Guns

The Massachusetts Medical Society has advocated for gun safety in several ways, including the adoption in 2013 of overarching principles “of reducing the number of deaths, disabilities, and injuries attributable to guns; making gun ownership safer; promoting education relative to guns, ammunition, and violence prevention for physicians and other health professionals as well as for the public; and encouraging research to understand the risk factors related to gun violence and deaths.” Additionally, the Society supports legislative reforms that limit access to assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The MMS is a strong advocate for meaningful changes in access to behavioral health care so people can get help sooner. Most recently, the Society adopted a policy in support of extreme risk protection orders that enable courts to temporarily prohibit people from possessing or carrying firearms if they are determined to pose a danger to themselves or others. The Medical Society also adopted a policy that opposes federal concealed carry reciprocity whereby if gun owners have a permit to carry a concealed weapon in their home state, they can also carry it anywhere in the country.

Roundtable on Firearms

Recognizing that medical centers, schools of public health, governmental agencies, and medical schools have a common interest in firearm safety and lots of firearm-related resources to share, the Society and its Committee on Preparedness invited representatives from 22 institutions to an afternoon roundtable in late January.

The exchange of information served to build and strengthen collaborations. Representatives shared screening tools, surveys, data, and institutional policies regarding firearm injury prevention strategies and best practices.

Content experts spent the final hour in small group discussions exploring resources and data on topics such as school violence, social determinants of health, advocacy, education of the medical profession and the public, and vulnerable populations, including the elderly, people with disabilities, and those with mental health challenges.

Committee on Preparedness chair and moderator, Eric Goralnick, MD, MS, noted that the roundtable “provided meaningful insight into what the medical community is doing to act and how we can better work together to lessen the incidence and impact of gun-related violence, death, and injury.”

Developing an evidence-based, integrated, and collaborative public health and injury prevention strategy is essential to addressing this issue, and the Society is committed to being a strong partner in this effort.