Cerina Wanzer Fairfax
Nancy Metayer
Tammy McCollum
Qualeisha Barnes
Barbara Deer
Each of these women was shot and killed by an intimate partner or family member this month.
Black women are 3x more likely than white women to be fatally shot by an intimate partner. Where is all the news reporting?
Social workers are on the front lines, working with communities most impacted by gun violence. With the widespread accessibility of firearms and their uniquely lethal consequences social workers can utilize assessment, intervention, and advocacy - and they need support!
Feeling alienated at school can push adolescent boys toward carrying guns. Pediatricians, school staff, and clinicians can prevent this by identifying at-risk youth, fostering connection, and integrating trauma-informed support to reduce the risk of school gun violence.
In Chicago, nearly 1 in 5 parents report having access to a firearm. This underscores how important it is that pediatricians discuss secure storage and firearm risks, helping prevent youth firearm deaths through safety discussions and a multilevel, community-informed approach.
Firefighters are on the front lines of gun violence, but are also highly impacted by gun violence themselves. Suicide risk is high due to trauma, PTSD, moral injury, & firearm access. Programs like firefighter-specific secure storage training can guide prevention and save lives.
In the past 5 years, over 1 million U.S. adults had a gun stolen. Risk is highest when guns are being carried, left loaded/unlocked, or stored in cars. Stolen guns often fuel crime -- and clinicians can help prevent this through counseling patients on secure storage.
Gun violence leaves hidden, lifelong scars. Some kids develop short bowel syndrome after firearm injuries, facing complex medical, social, and psychological challenges most never see. Clinicians: prevention and secure storage save lives—and protects future well-being.
Most US firearm deaths are suicides. Clinicians can counsel on storing guns locked & unloaded to keep patients & their loved ones safe. Check out Brady’s guide, “How to Talk to Patients About Firearm Access & Safety” to help have conversations that resonate with gun owners’ sense of responsibility.
After a gunshot injury, many don’t realize a hidden risk: retained lead fragments. For women of childbearing age, these can affect fertility and future children they may have. Clinicians must screen and counsel survivors—but the best care is still preventing shootings in the first place.
New York has a new program that will add firearm access and injury risk screenings to emergency department visits. Healthcare professionals can be incredibly effective at connecting patients with safety resources and promoting secure storage.
Each year, the Dept. of Defense publishes a report with data on suicide and suicide prevention within the military.
But that report and data were supposed to be released months ago, and not only are they missing, but the Trump administration hasn't said when, or if, they will be released.
Contact your Senators NOW before it's too late!
1/ Today you might be expecting the weekly Dose on flu, the U.S. pulling out of the WHO, or other health headlines. I’ll get back there soon. But after this weekend, those topics felt small and I needed to pause. Because I don’t know about you, but my weekend was full of really hard juxtapositions🧵
Alex Pretti "used to tell people off when they made sexist comments to female physicians. He bought me coffee when I had a really bad day as an intern...I laughed alongside him daily. He made a point to teach medical residents without judgement, but with a smile on his face and a joke."
“One in 4 nurses already experience workplace violence. As incidents w/ federal law enforcement continue to rise across the country, we are deeply concerned for the safety of nurses, both on the job & in the communities they serve.”
Thank you, American Nurses Association. #ThisIsOurLane #AlexPretti
Join Brady's @endfamilyfire.org and partners for a webinar on effective strategies for healthcare practitioners to discuss secure firearm storage and keep communities safe.
Register at bit.ly/bradyyouthsa...
Jeri Rees said her nephew was denied care after the assault, claiming that officers did not immediately call paramedics and instead pressed his face into a pool of blood.
“The other officers were mocking him, saying, ‘You’re going to lose your eye,' " she said her nephew told her. #ThisIsOurLane
They blame mental health.
They cut mental health care.
They protect unfettered access to guns.
Amazing how the real problem is the one that they always refuse to touch.
"Preventing a physician from treating a dying woman is not merely a procedural choice. It is a moral one. And it should alarm all of us." — Brady Board Chair and @thisisourlane.org Founder @josephsakran.bsky.social
Read more in @usatoday.com.
Join Brady's @endfamilyfire.org for a webinar on effective strategies for healthcare practitioners to discuss secure firearm storage and keep communities safe.
Register at bit.ly/bradyyouthsa....
Decades of data show childhood exposure to gun violence drives lifelong mental health harm, including depression and substance abuse, with differences across race and gender.
Clinicians must include related prevention, screening, and trauma-informed care as part of regular practice.
Guns in the home can create an unexpected risk when it comes to youth suicide, which often involves firearms from home.
Health providers can help educate families on risks, secure storage options, and tools like extreme risk protection orders before tragedy strikes.
As folks travel this holiday season, something to keep in mind – Firearms in vehicles are an often-overlooked risk for children. Over half of parents report keeping guns in cars, and a third leave them unlocked.
Counseling families on safe storage in vehicles can save lives.
During the holidays, families gather—let’s make safety part of the celebration. Clinicians and parents can work together to keep children safe from firearm injuries at home and in vehicles.
Wishing everyone a peaceful and protected holiday season.
AAP-backed work helps clinicians counsel families on secure firearm storage, assess suicide risk, & respond to gun-related trauma. Evidence shows these conversations reduce unintentional shootings & youth suicide.
If we want to protect kids from firearm injury and death, we must protect this work!
Defunding the American Academy of Pediatrics undermines gun violence prevention.
Pediatricians are trusted messengers for firearm safety, suicide prevention, & trauma care; this is incredibly dangerous, as gun violence is the leading cause of death for kids in the US. 🧵
Firearm owners at highest risk for suicide—older men, racial minorities—rarely seek mental health care. Outreach, counseling, and lethal means interventions must go beyond traditional mental health settings.
What are some ways you try to reach community members where they’re at?
After tragedies like those this weekend, particularly when the horror of gun violence hits so close to home:
First, we grieve. Then, turn to facts. Then, with understanding rather than anger or fear, we must act - with community and heart at the center. 💜
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
You can help too, even if you're not a clinician: advocate for policy change, ensure secure storage, know local resources, and support evidence-based community programs. Together, we can reduce preventable firearm injuries. parentdata.org/what-parents...
