We health care providers are teachers. Teaching is rooted in the very definition of our profession: The word doctor derives from the Latin docere, meaning “to teach.” Every day, we counsel patients about smoking, nutrition, vaccines, substance use, and injury prevention because we know that education influences health behaviors, improves decision-making, and ultimately saves lives. Firearm injury prevention belongs in those conversations as an important part of comprehensive care.
Clinicians who already incorporate firearm injury prevention counseling into practice should continue to do so. Those who do not should seek opportunities to develop these skills.
Having practiced family medicine for many years and now focusing on community firearm injury prevention education, I have had the opportunity to see both sides of this work. Clinical counseling and community education each have strengths and limitations. Together, however, they become mutually reinforcing. The exam room is a powerful setting for prevention, but it should not be the only one.
One of the great challenges of a clinic visit is addressing multiple important issues in limited time while ensuring that patients can absorb the information. Patients arrive with concerns of their own, and we must prioritize what can realistically be addressed during a brief visit. Even when we recognize the importance of firearm injury prevention counseling, finding the time and opportunity for meaningful conversations can be difficult.
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Those limitations are simply the reality of primary care. No single clinical encounter can carry the full burden of prevention. Effective public health requires multiple trusted voices delivering consistent, evidence-based messages over time. Providers are an essential part of that system, but not the only part.
Community education expands the reach of prevention by preparing people before they ever become our patients. It creates a shared foundation of knowledge that makes conversations in the clinic more productive. The clinician’s greatest contribution is often not introducing information for the first time, but reinforcing it, addressing questions, and helping patients apply it to their own circumstances.
Our nation’s success in reducing motor vehicle deaths illustrates this well. Seat belts save thousands of lives every year in the United States, not because one person delivered one message one time, but because the message came from everywhere: public campaigns, schools, laws, media, health professionals, and conversations among families and communities. Over time, those messages became part of our culture. Firearm injury prevention deserves the same comprehensive approach.
Schools are a particularly important setting for that work because they provide something few other institutions can: the ability to reach nearly every young person. Firearm injury is now the leading cause of death among young people in the United States. At the same time, adolescents are growing up surrounded by thousands of messages and images about firearms through television, movies, social media, video games, and their own communities. Many of these portrayals are inaccurate, sensationalized, or emphasize the power and excitement associated with firearms while rarely portraying their risks and consequences. These messages shape perceptions about firearms, yet they are rarely balanced by accurate, evidence-based information that allows students to understand risk and make informed decisions consistent with their own values.
Schools provide a trusted environment where students can learn, ask questions, and seek guidance and support from teachers, counselors, school nurses, and other adults they already know. This education should extend beyond safe firearm storage, important though that is. Students should understand that firearm injury is a complex public health issue involving suicide, homicide, domestic violence, community violence, and law enforcement encounters. They should also understand the factors that influence risk, including mental health, substance use, and broader community conditions, as well as the laws and prevention strategies designed to reduce harm.
Young people need this information because they are directly affected by these issues. They also need accurate knowledge to make informed decisions about their own safety and the safety of those around them. Students are often the first to notice changes in friends, classmates, or teammates. When an adolescent is struggling with thoughts of self-harm or experiencing a crisis, the person who recognizes warning signs and knows how to respond may make a critical difference. More broadly, education helps young people become informed participants in their communities, individuals who understand risk, recognize opportunities for prevention, and contribute to a culture of safety.
This approach is not theoretical. Through Ceasefire Northwest, we have developed and delivered an evidence-based firearm injury prevention education program presented by physicians and medical students that has reached more than 17,000 high school students across Washington State. The program focuses on public health principles, risk reduction, and practical strategies to promote safety. Delivered in partnership with schools and educators, it has demonstrated that firearm injury prevention education can be presented in a balanced, nonpartisan manner. We have received no complaints from parents, teachers, administrators, or students expressing concerns that the program promotes either a pro-firearm or anti-firearm agenda.
Health care providers should continue counseling patients about firearm injury prevention. But our responsibility does not end at the clinic door. As trusted messengers, we can also help address a missing component of our public health response: education.
As professionals committed to improving health, we should recognize firearm injury prevention education as part of our responsibility to promote prevention and use our voices to support evidence-based approaches in the communities we serve. That means writing op-eds, participating in community discussions, engaging with school boards and superintendents, talking with principals and educators, and encouraging public officials to include firearm injury prevention education as part of their broader approach to health and safety.
We should advocate for this work not only as clinicians, but also as parents, neighbors, and community members. Prevention succeeds when accurate, evidence-based messages are reinforced across the places where people live, learn, and receive care. Our responsibility does not end at the clinic door; it extends into the communities we serve and the systems that shape health.
Gregory Engel is a family physician.
