Position Statement

Firearms Violence

This Position Statement was developed as an educational tool based on the opinion of the authors. It is not a product of a systematic review. Readers are encouraged to consider the information presented and reach their own conclusions.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) believes that death, injury and disability resulting from firearm violence must be reduced.

Firearm violence is a significant public health problem. The AAOS believes that the public should recognize the following information, which outlines an epidemic of injury and death due to firearms. Firearms were involved in the deaths of more than 30,000 people in 2002, and a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States.

• The rate of firearm-related deaths for U.S. children younger than 15 years of age is nearly 12 times greater than the rate in the other 25 leading industrialized nations of the world combined.
• The rate of firearm related deaths in the United States is eight times higher than in other high-income countries.
• Every two years more Americans die from firearm injuries than the total number of American soldiers killed during the 8-year Vietnam War.
• Everyday in the United States, 8 young Americans ages 19 and under are killed in gun homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings.
• A nationwide survey about teenagers’ attitudes toward guns, conducted in 2003, found that approximately 39 percent said that they knew someone who had been shot.
• In a ten-year span, from 1988 to 1997, firearms in America feloniously killed 633 law enforcement officers. A handgun was the murder weapon in 78 percent (492 victims) of the fatal incidents. Over the same period of time, rifles killed 106 officers and shotguns killed 35 officers. A total of 253 law enforcement officers were slain while equipped with body armor.
• From 1977 to 1996, the U.S. firearm industry produced 85,644,715 firearms, 39,024,786 handguns, 26,651,062 rifles and 19,969,867 shotguns in the United States.

The AAOS believes that most deaths and injuries due to firearms are preventable. The AAOS is committed to reducing death, injury and disability due to firearm violence through support of a comprehensive public health approach that includes the following:

Education, Prevention and Intervention

• Education of health professionals for the prevention, acute care and rehabilitation of firearm injuries.
• Public education programs designed to teach and encourage proper firearm use, lock and key storage and firearm safety.
• Supporting programs that educate patients and families about the dangers of firearms to children.
• Encouraging physicians to ask their patients about the presence of firearms in the home and encouraging proper storage to achieve a "childproof home."
• Scientific research, including social studies, aimed at identifying causes and solutions to the firearm problem.

Data Collection and Trend Monitoring

• Accurate and objective data collection and trend monitoring of firearm injuries to enable the development of sound public policy.
• Public funding for a national firearm injury and fatality reporting system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Public Policy Strategies

• Safety intervention strategies to control firearm possession and use by unsupervised youth under age 18.
• Implementation of proper licensing fees.
• Enactment of a required national waiting period that allows for an expanded police background check.
• Banning the sale or manufacture of firearms that are not detectable by ordinary security devices.
• Creating a long-term goal to eliminate specific categories of firearms that have little or no legitimate utility.
• Stricter enforcement of present local, state and federal laws and the imposition of mandatory penalties for crimes committed with firearms.

References:

1. Center of Disease Control National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2002 statistics.
2. Final Data for 1999,CDC National Center for Health Statistics report, Vol. 49, No. 8
3. Rates of homicide, suicide and firearm-related death among children --26 industrialized countries. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: MMWR 1997. Vol. 46(5):101-105.
4. Krug, EC, Powell KE, Dahlberg LL, Firearm-related death in the United States and 35 other high- and upper-middle-income countries. International Journal of Epidemiology 1998; 27:214-221.
5. Teenage Research Unlimited, June 2003. http://www.ichv.org/Statistics.htm#generalstats
6. U.S. Department of Justice. http://www.ichv.org/Statistics.htm#generalstats
7. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms http://www.ichv.org/Statistics.htm#generalstats

© May 1996. Revised June 2005 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

This material may not be modified without the express written permission of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons^®.

Position Statement 1134

For additional information, contact Public Education and Media Relations Department at 847-384-4031.