Recent AAP research highlights the roles pediatricians and caregivers play in the prevention of gun injuries and was released ahead of national campaigns that put gun violence awareness in the spotlight every June.
An examination of AAP Periodic Surveys from 1994-2024 found that pediatricians’ counseling on firearm injury prevention increased significantly over the 30-year period. In 1994, 51% of respondents said they always or sometimes asked whether there were firearms in a patient’s home; that increased to 77% in 2024.
The study was presented by Lynn M. Olson, Ph.D., AAP vice president, research, in April at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting (PAS) in Hawaii. Her co-authors include AAP Immediate Past President Benjamin D. Hoffman, M.D., FAAP.
They found that 88% or more of surveyed doctors said violence prevention should be a pediatric priority. Over the same time period, 91% or more said they felt pediatricians should support legislation holding gun owners responsible for child and adolescent use of firearms.
The 2024 survey showed 98% of respondents agree or strongly agree that their peers should support legislation requiring universal background checks for gun buyers.
“Views on legislative options changed significantly over time, likely reflecting historic increases in mass shootings,” the authors wrote.
The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that collects data from thousands of sources, defines a mass shooting as any incident in which at least four victims were injured or killed, not including the shooter. Its data show mass shootings jumped from 414 in 2019 to 611 in 2020, and stayed above 600 in the three following years. Last year saw the number fall to 502.
Firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of pediatric deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some result from unsupervised children finding an unlocked gun in their home or someone else’s home, which is the focus of ASK Day on June 21.
The Asking Saves Kids (ASK) campaign encourages all parents, guardians and caregivers to ask, “Is there an unlocked gun where my child plays?”
A study published in Pediatrics and presented at the PAS meeting by lead author Maya Haasz, M.D., FAAP, found that just 30% of caregivers of children ages 17 and under from a pool of 1,536 survey respondents had asked about firearms in another caregiver’s home.
“Everyone can play a role in keeping our children safe from firearms,” Dr. Haasz said. “By having these conversations, we create a cultural shift where discussing firearm safety and preventing child access to firearms is normalized.”
She and her co-authors found that a caregiver was likely to ask about firearms in another home if they received firearm safety information from distinct sources, including health care professionals, social media, a child’s school or child care provider. Caregivers who asked received safety information from an average of 2.5 sources; caregivers who did not ask averaged 1.6 sources.
“Our study shows that parents are more likely to ask about firearm storage before playdates when we talk to them about firearm safety,” said Dr. Haasz, a member of the AAP Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention (COIVPP) Executive Committee. “We should be discussing this with all our patients.”
Pediatrician advocacy
Dr. Haasz said pediatricians are “natural child advocates.”
The AAP’s ongoing advocacy efforts include a Firearm Injury Prevention Special Interest Group where pediatricians can work together to address gun violence.
In 2023, the AAP chose 10 sites across the U.S. to receive $15,000 grants for gun violence prevention programs, resulting in the distribution of 1,900 free gun locks, gun safety training for health care professionals and community members, hundreds of public service announcements and more.
Hundreds of pediatricians advocated for gun violence prevention in Washington, D.C., in the wake of the 2018 mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and the Academy joined a letter with 165 other organizations urging Congress to provide $50 million in funding toward gun violence research. The House of Representatives recommended as much in a May 2019 funding bill, and $25 million in funding ultimately was approved by President Donald J. Trump by year’s end.
“Given their direct experience caring for victims and survivors of firearm violence, pediatricians can share their experiences to advocate for firearm violence prevention in the media and with their legislators,” said Lois K. Lee, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, chair of the COIVPP Executive Committee. “Pediatricians should also talk to teenagers and their families about lethal means counseling, including the secure storage of firearms in the home for suicide prevention.”
