There’s No Better Time to Commit to Reducing Gun Violence

By Patricia Salber MD, MBA (@docweighsin)

As the number of school shootings continues to take a murderous toll on families across the U.S., it is time for everyone, including doctors, to make a commitment to reducing gun violence NOW.

In a remarkable opinion piece in the Annals of Internal Medicine, titled “What You Can Do to Stop Firearm Violence,” long-time gun researcher, Garen Wintemute, MD, MPH, asks doctors to make a commitment to help reduce firearm-related injuries and deaths. There is a link at the top of the article that takes you to a form where you can craft your personal commitment statement. You then have the option of making your commitment statement public, appearing as comments at the end of his article. He notes correctly that “commitments to change health-related behaviors mean more when they are made in public.”

What Dr. Wintemute is asking doctors to do is

“ask our patients about firearms, counsel them on safe firearm behaviors, and take further action when the imminent hazard is present.”

If we were talking about installing cabinet locks to keep toddlers out of cupboards where we store toxic household products, no one would argue. It is our job to help prevent injuries. If we were talking about night lights so that older…