The following statement is attributable to:
Bruce A. Scott, M.D.
President, American Medical Association
“Across the country, physicians everywhere treat patients and families afflicted by firearm violence. We see the physical and emotional harm firsthand, and we dread the too-often conversations with parents, spouses, and even children in which we tell them their loved one did not make it. Firearm violence is indeed a public health crisis in the United States, and the data now show it touches the majority of Americans. We applaud the Office of the Surgeon General for issuing this advisory and for outlining an evidence-based public health approach to addressing firearm violence.”
Over the past two-plus decades, the AMA has developed numerous policy recommendations to reduce firearm trauma, injury and death, including policies to:
- Improve the quality, comparability, and timeliness of data on firearm injuries and deaths
- Support federal and state research on firearm-related injuries and deaths
- Promote physician counseling on firearm safety with patients
- Distribute firearm safety materials in the clinical setting
- Support evidence-based firearm violence interruption programs in communities, schools, hospitals, and clinics
- Make secure firearm storage devices accessible
- Support child access prevention laws
- Recognize role of firearms in suicide and encourage lethal means safety counseling
- Support extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs) to remove firearms when there is a high or imminent risk for violence
- Support prohibiting persons under domestic violence restraining orders, convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes or stalking, from possessing or purchasing firearms
- Support a waiting period and background check for all firearm purchasers
- Require the licensing/permitting of firearms-owners and purchasers, including the completion of a required safety course, and registration of all firearms
- Ban the sale and ownership of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines
- Advocate for firearm safety features, including smart technology, to reduce accidental discharge of a firearm or misappropriation of the weapon by a non-registered user
The AMA declared firearm-related violence–one of the leading causes of intentional and unintentional injuries and deaths in the United States–a public health crisis in in 2016. The AMA has also developed resources to help physicians address firearm injuries, including a continuing medical education (CME) module designed to assist physicians in recognizing risk factors and effectively communicating with patients to reduce the risk of firearm injury and death. In 2022, the AMA’s House of Delegates adopted a policy to establish a task force focused on firearm injury prevention. The AMA convenes this task force with physician leaders from national medical societies and liaison representatives from federal agencies to increase collaboration to advance evidence-based strategies for firearm injury prevention.
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About the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association is the physicians’ powerful ally in patient care. As the only medical association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in health care. The AMA leverages its strength by removing the obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises and, driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in health care.
