Gun safety matters to ISMA member Anne Eliades, MD, of Muncie. A retired pediatrician, she knows it could be a matter of life and death to others, especially caretakers of curious children.
“Physicians must talk to their patients about the danger of gun suicide, homicide and unintentional death, as well as injury,” Dr. Eliades said. “They must encourage that firearms be safely locked up, with the ammunition locked up elsewhere, and the key not accessible to children and adolescents.”
Firearms were the third leading cause of injury-related deaths in the U.S. in 2016, according to the Council on Science and Public Health. Suicides made up more than 60 percent of firearm deaths; homicides 35 percent; accidental deaths 1.5 percent; and mass shootings, less than 1 percent.
A 2016 study, “The Physician’s Role in Firearm Safety,” found physicians might be able to lower these statistics. When doctors discuss gun availability and safety, the authors wrote, it “may increase rates of safe storage of firearms for pediatric patients, suicidal patients, and other high-risk groups,”
Dr. Eliades’ Resolution 18-05 was adopted last year, renewing ISMA’s support for educating physicians and others about safe firearms storage and the increased risk of suicide when guns are available.
Many gun-safety resources for physicians are online:
Dr. Eliades hopes that educating physicians about safe storage of guns and risk factors for firearms injury might prevent tragedies like a recent one she recalls. While at a friend’s house with other teens, a boy was killed when someone picked up a gun and it discharged.
“This tragedy happens all too often,” Dr. Eliades said. “His parents and friends will never get over this.”