Physicians Preventing Gun Injuries

Big time medical implications of firearm ownership – and what family doctors are saying we should do about it. This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, Speaking of Health. According to a review published by the journal American Family Physician, “firearm use and misuse… (claims) almost 40,000 lives each year, second only to motor vehicle accidents as a cause of fatal injury.” Moreover, “most children who unintentionally kill themselves or others while playing with a gun find the weapon in their (own) home.”

The review’s author, Dr. Pamela Camosy, from the university of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, says that “many physicians respond to (reports of gun violence in children) with “frustration or anger” because “such deaths are totally preventable.” An outgrowth of these doctors’ feelings are some position statements on firearm safety and laws from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

The doctors’ group urges support of legislation requiring safe storage of firearms and real penalties for gun owners who do not properly store firearms and ammunition and children under 18 are killed or injured as a result. The Academy also supports legislation on every gun manufactured. This, plus firearms education of both unintentional injury or death. The Academy also supports stronger enforcement of existing laws on illegal gun trafficking.

For some gun safety information and resources of interest to families, legislators and physicians, you can access our web site, www.speakingofhealth.com. Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis for CBS News.