Thanks to our sponsors:As an emergency physician in the United States for about 20 years, Houry said that it was a “frequent occurrence” to treat young men in the emergency room for gunshot wounds. They often would “bleed out” on her as she was resuscitating them.
“The increases in firearm homicide rates and persistently high firearm suicide rates in 2020, with increases among populations that were already at high risk, have widened disparities and heightened the urgency of actions that can have immediate and lasting benefits.” From 2019 to 2020, the overall firearm homicide rate climbed from 4.6 deaths to 6.1 deaths per 100,000 people nationwide, according to the new data. But that increase was not equally distributed, revealing widening disparities in homicides.
Meanwhile, the overall firearm suicide rate among people age 10 and older remained nearly level between 2019 and 2020, climbing only slightly from 7.9 to 8.1 deaths per 100,000 people, CDC researchers found in their new report. In their paper, they note that clinicians can play a role in talking to patients about gun safety, but medical schools often do not incorporate firearm safety, violence prevention and social determinants of health in their curricula.
“But those who had received formal training were more likely to report a higher level of comfort with asking patients about firearm ownership,” Houry said. “So for me, it’s about making sure clinicians understand their role and then have the tools on what to do.”Communities can also use these new data on firearm deaths to consider interventions to reduce violence.