Firearm Safety: The Importance of Patient-Provider Counseling and How We Can Help

In the U.S., an estimated 1 in 3 homes with children have guns, many unlocked or loaded. Additionally, 8 children are unintentionally injured or killed every day as a result of “family fire,” which is a shooting involving an improperly stored or misused firearm found in the home. Since 2019, the number of children, teens and young adults killed by firearms each year in Washington ranged from 127 in 2019 and 169 in 2021 – most of these were due to suicide and homicide.  

Patient-provider counseling on safe firearm storage during clinic visits is an important strategy to potentially reduce firearm-related injuries among children and teens.

Many families expect their pediatrician to advise about safe storage of firearms and are comfortable discussing firearm safety with their child's pediatrician.

Seattle Children’s can train and support healthcare organizations to implement safe firearm storage counseling, along with provision of safe firearm storage devices for pediatric settings in Washington state through June 2025. Learn more.

Practicing safe firearm storage is an effective and important way to protect children and teens from firearm suicide and unintentional shootings, reduce the risk of firearm injuries and saves lives. Since 2017, Seattle Children’s has collaborated with teams across the state to provide education and device distribution to increase home safety and reduce barriers a family may have to practice safe storage of firearms.  

If you are interested in learning more about this project, please visit seattlechildrens.org/firearmsafety or if you would like to request an information session to explore what implementation could look like in your organization, please contact Gun.Safety@seattlechildrens.org.