Safety

Gun Safety

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Gun Safety, Firearm Safety

  • See Also
  1. Gunshot Wound
  • Epidemiology
  • Firearm related injury in United States
  1. U.S. Gunshot Wound overall Incidence
    1. Deaths: 100 per day
    2. Injury: 200 per day
  2. U.S. Gunshot WoundIncidence in teens and children (under age 20 years)
    1. Deaths per year: 6,000
    2. Severe injury per year: 24,000
  • History
  1. Precautions
    1. Ask about Gun Safety and storage as part of overall injury prevention and in neutral, non-politicized tones
    2. Focus on firearm responsibility and preventing unauthorized weapon access
  2. Screening
    1. Are there firearms in your home?
    2. Do you have access to firearms?
  3. Clarifying questions if screening positive
    1. How do you prevent unintended access to your firearms?
    2. How do you prevent high risk persons (e.g. children or suicidal patients) from gaining access to firearms?
    3. Do you have any concerns about your own mental health that worries you about your own firearm access?
  • Prevention
  • General
  1. Firearms brought into the home should be unloaded
  2. Firearms should be secured within a locking device (e.g. trigger lock, locked gun case or safe)
  3. Ammunition should be placed in locked storage separate from firearms
  • Prevention
  • Community-Based Gun Safety Program
  1. North Carolina study
    1. Firearm Safety counseling
    2. Gun lock distribution and instruction on use
  2. Efficacy
    1. Increased gun lock use from 0 to 72%
    2. Decreased unlocked and loaded gun rate from 18 to 7%
  3. Reference
    1. Coyne-Beasley (2001) Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 155:659 [PubMed]
  • Resources
  1. American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine
    1. https://affirmresearch.org/
  • References
  1. Bigham (2024) Am Fam Physician 109(5): 474-6 [PubMed]