Most Americans have strong feelings about gun control, whether in favor of more or less. Legislation has even been passed restricting physicians from discussing guns with patients. What is your opinion about healthcare professionals discussing safekeeping of guns in the home?
Gun ownership and regulation is a very emotional issue in the U.S. and there has been strong reaction to whether physicians and other healthcare providers should be involved in doing more to curb gun related injuries and deaths. I would like to hear some of your opinions regarding physician involvement, but first let's look at some of the gun statistics in the U.S.
More than 108,000 people are shot per year in murders, assaults, suicides, suicide attempts, unintentional shootings or by police intervention.
* More than 32,000 of them die.
* The U.S. has the most gun homicides of any developed nation. 29.7 per 100,000.
* Everyday 297 people are shot.
* 89 people die.
* 31 of them are murdered.
* 55 are suicides.
* 2 are killed unintentionally.
* 1 is killed by police.
* 1 is unknown intent.
* One in five deaths are people ages 15-29.
Over 17,000 American children and teens are injured or killed each year due to gun violence.
* 2,677 of those children die.
* Nearly 48 youth are shot per day including 7 fatalities.
* 5 are murdered and 2 are suicides.
1 in 3 homes with children have guns.
* 42% of parents with guns keep at least one unlocked.
* 25% of parents with guns keep at least loaded.
* 3 in 4 children know where firearms are kept in the home.
(Statistics; bradycampaign.org).
It has been suggested that clinicians could play a major role in reducing children's access to guns by asking if there is a gun in the home, and if so, counseling on firearm storage practices. One study showed that patients who received counseling on firearm storage were more likely to make a change in storage practice than patients who did not receive counseling. (64% vs 33%). (J Am Board Fam.Pract).
Pediatrician's offices and hospitals routinely give out infant and car seats, would it also be appropriate to distribute trigger locks and lockboxes? Firearm related injuries are a public health issue, so should there be public health initiatives regarding firearms such as there have been for reducing tobacco, toy and motor vehicle related deaths?
Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
I have never been asked by anyone in the healthcare industry if I own a gun.
I spend some time on a hunting forum in Texas and never have I heard anyone been asked that question
If I was asked a question like that I would be insulted and probably take some kind of action against the said person, Either verbally or physically.........
I am trying to figure out how a health care provider asking if you have guns in the home and if so how they are stored is somehow conflicting with anyone's right to own said gun. I'm a libertarian. Own away. However, if you are going to own guns I sure do hope that you are smart enough to store them properly.
I think we all know, working with the patient populations that we work with, that lots of people are ignorant when it comes to completely obvious things sometimes. It's like those parents with the asthmatic child that get offended when I ask them if the child is exposed to cigarette smoke.... and they defensively snap, WE SMOKE, BUT ONLY OUTSIDE. That's still exposure. They don't understand that they are still making their child sick with their decisions.
Isn't that our job as nurses? To educate and inform?
Gun safety is important, regardless of your opinions on guns.
I have taken care of so many children with PREVENTABLE gun shot wounds.
If I was asked a question like that I would be insulted and probably take some kind of action against the said person, Either verbally or physically.........
You would physically take action against a nurse for asking if you have a firearm? Are you serious? This sounds like a threat. Comments like this make me strongly support psych evals for all people wanting a firearm. This response is actually scary.
This is the biggest point to consider, IMO -- if you want to lecture people about proper gun storage/safety, you had better be well-educated in that regard.
If someone is an actual gun enthusiast and/or has a license to carry a concealed weapon, I daresay there's not a darned thing that the average healthcare professional could teach them about gun safety -- they are already very well-versed in the subject.
Well, "daresay" to your heart's content, but I worked in outpatient mental health in a southern rural community in the past, where the majority of the population were "gun enthusiasts," and we dealt all the time with families who thought it was perfectly fine to leave loaded guns just lying around with small children in the home. I worked with one family that had already lost one child to an accidental shooting at home (one young kid picked up a gun and shot (killed) another kid), and we still couldn't convince them that it was a bad idea to keep a loaded .357 Magnum on the coffee table in the family room. I guess the thinking is that kids come and go, if you lose one, it's easy enough to make another, but guns are important.
How "well-educated" about gun safety do healthcare professionals need to be to advise and encourage gun owners to keep guns and ammo locked up? Does the fact that I don't know any more about guns than which end is which mean that I am somehow incapable of, or not allowed to, discuss basic home safety concerns? I don't know anything about skateboarding, either, but I know kids are supposed to wear helmets, knee, and elbow guards.
You would physically take action against a nurse for asking if you have a firearm? Are you serious? This sounds like a threat. Comments like this make me strongly support psych evals for all people wanting a firearm. This response is actually scary.
Pinay also mourns the good old days before MADD and SADD ruined his right to drink and drive, so...
Could you even imagine being that child, growing up knowing you killed your sibling? Being the parent of that child, trying so hard to not have that influence your feelings and behaviors toward the child who pulled the trigger? And also, being that parent, knowing your carelessness is the reason one of your children is dead? Emotionally, I don't think I could survive that.
Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.
All those "weapons" also have other uses.
Guns exist to shoot people.
not solely to shoot people
, on my ranch a predator as bobcat or cougar can cost me, near $1000.00 potential for each young calf it takes.....that predator (four legged)......is the reason my farm is "safely armed"
, on my ranch a predator as bobcat or cougar can cost me, near $1000.00 potential for each young calf it takes.....that predator (four legged)......is the reason my farm is "safely armed"
I was thinking of Suburbia, where I reside, but okay.
OT: Does this happen often? One of my best friends lives in Texas and works on a cattle ranch. I love her stories, because her life is so different than mine.
Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.
Well, "daresay" to your heart's content, but I worked in outpatient mental health in a southern rural community in the past, where the majority of the population were "gun enthusiasts," and we dealt all the time with families who thought it was perfectly fine to leave loaded guns just lying around with small children in the home. I worked with one family that had already lost one child to an accidental shooting at home (one young kid picked up a gun and shot (killed) another kid), and we still couldn't convince them that it was a bad idea to keep a loaded .357 Magnum on the coffee table in the family room. I guess the thinking is that kids come and go, if you lose one, it's easy enough to make another, but guns are important.
How "well-educated" about gun safety do healthcare professionals need to be to advise and encourage gun owners to keep guns and ammo locked up? Does the fact that I don't know any more about guns than which end is which mean that I am somehow incapable of, or not allowed to, discuss basic home safety concerns? I don't know anything about skateboarding, either, but I know kids are supposed to wear helmets, knee, and elbow guards.
elkpark, you just gave me food for thought.....I hope the next few comments do not hey-jack this thread.......
yes, I am a four decades+, seasoned nurse
yes, for the time being rather cognitively intact í ½í¹Š
yes, I am a very knowledgeable gun owner, And have very sophisticated safety storage mechanism in place and utilize them daily on our farm/ranch.......there is very little one could teach me about gun safety.....I am very experienced, protecting some of my life stock, requires daily safe interaction with "said weapons"........
but out what happens .....say in the future, hopefully very far in the future.......like in "my nineties ", or when ever......one, such as me de compensates cognition....etc.......there could be an issue, especially if being cared for say some version of home health.......so yes it is a an appropriate safety issue to address.....hopefully something, similar to living trust dynamics exist.....
just because. I am skilled, and knowledgeable today.....
may not be the same assessment decades from now.....
FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN
2,320 Posts
Disgusting.