A ‘Good Guy With a Gun’ Needn’t Shoot It by Dr. Christopher Barsotti
As an emergency physician whose daily routine includes both conducting psychiatric threat assessments and treating gunshot wounds, I see clearly that gun violence originates in a person’s mental, physical and social health. As a gun owner and firearms trainer for young people, I see how responsibility and safety, foundational to gun ownership, are ignored each time gun violence occurs. From this vantage point, I also see that there is a powerful consensus among healthcare providers and gun experts that those who are unsafe should not have access to firearms.
Read More
CNN and CDC AFFIRM the Importance of Non-Partisan Approaches to Firearm Injury Prevention
CNN recently aired an exclusive interview with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, on the longstanding and compelling need to understand firearm injury as a health problem.
Read More
Results of CONFIRM: Firearm Injury Prevention Educational Priorities for Medical Professionals
We are excited to share the latest publication on firearm injury prevention educational priorities for medical professionals.
Read More
Standing Affirm: ERPO Documentation Must Reflect Extreme Risk
Despite public perception, enforcing an extreme risk protection order is not immediate and may take several days. An ERPO also requires the coordinated actions of the petitioner, law enforcement officials, and the judicial system.
Read More
CDC Funds Project Researching Gun Violence
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with ER physician and Brown University researcher Megan Ranney about the continuing public health problem of gun violence.
Read More
Standing Affirm: Firearms, Red Flag Laws, and At-Risk Patients
When caring for patients who demonstrate the potential to harm themselves or others, it is essential to put time and distance between the person and a lethal means that could propel that potential into action.
Read More
We Must Treat Gun Violence as a Public Health Crisis. These 4 Steps Will Help Us Reduce Deaths
COVID-19 has taught us many deadly lessons, among them how dangerous it is to approach a health problem as a political problem. We have lost lives, jobs, hope, and an imagined future, all because scoring political points became more important than following the science.
Read More
Why Addressing Gun Violence as a Health Crisis Is Crucial for Change
“The forgotten underlying issue is when someone pulls the trigger, it causes health problems — the pulling of a trigger is no different than someone eating unhealthily or using substances or driving without a seatbelt on.”
Read More
A public health crisis: forum seeks to reframe gun violence in DC
Monday a forum was held bringing together community activists and health care professionals to discuss a relatively new theory, that gun violence should be treated as a public health emergency.
The virtual event was hosted by the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM).
Read More
It’s time to follow doctors’ orders on gun violence
The Editorial Board of the Washington Post confirmed that physicians, who have intimate knowledge about the causes and consequences of the American gun violence epidemic, provide necessary advice on how to treat our uniquely American problem.
Read More
