Healthcare professionals and hospital staff have helped normalize seat belt use — contributing to a 45% drop in motor vehicle crash deaths — and vaccines, which prevent an estimated 4 million deaths each year. The question is: Why aren’t we doing the same for firearm safety?
Seven children die every day in America from gun violence. Physicians see and experience the consequences firsthand. They care for young victims, counsel grieving families and witness the devastation gun violence unleashes on communities. Hospitals are pillars of these communities, entrusted with keeping people healthy and safe. This responsibility must include helping families take steps to prevent firearm-related injuries before they happen. It is our duty and our responsibility to act.
That is why the Children’s Hospital Association and the American Medical Association are joining the Ad Council’s “Agree to Agree” initiative, a new national effort uniting parents and caregivers, hospitals, businesses and healthcare professionals to advance simple and effective actions that reduce firearm injuries and deaths.
Many hospitals, including children’s hospitals and health systems, are taking an active role in firearm injury prevention by distributing free gun locks, expanding firearm safety education, and implementing violence intervention programs that offer counseling and support to victims. But more needs to be done across sectors to make a greater difference.
The “Agree to Agree” initiative offers a way to expand these efforts by providing healthcare professionals with evidence-backed tools to have meaningful conversations with families about preventing firearm injuries. Just as hospitals have made seat belts, vaccines, pool safety and safe sleep part of routine care, they can also help ensure firearm safety counseling is a standard topic with patients at risk of firearm injuries.
One of the most effective ways to reduce firearm injuries is giving families tools to ensure guns are stored securely at home. Unfortunately, 4.6 million children in the United States live in homes with unlocked, loaded firearms, and just 30% of gun owners with children store their weapons securely. Many don’t realize that a simple precaution — storing firearms locked and unloaded — significantly reduces the risk of unintentional shootings, suicide and gun-related injuries. As trusted messengers, health care professionals can educate families about these risks and provide resources like gun locks and lockboxes.
No matter where we stand on other issues, we can all agree that firearm injuries and deaths in children are unacceptable and preventable. We can all agree that responsible gun storage is a simple, effective way to save lives. And we can all agree that healthcare professionals can play a vital role in helping keep the families they care for safe, including from firearm-related harm.
Every day that passes without action means more lives lost, more families shattered and more communities devastated. Hospitals and health care professionals have the tools to make a difference. Now we must use them.
Matthew Cook is the president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital Association, the national voice of more than 200 children’s hospitals.
James L. Madara, MD, is the CEO and executive vice president of the American Medical Association, the largest and only national association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders.