The American Journal of Nursing’s blog, AJN – Off the Charts, invited me to write about the critical issue of gun violence as the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States. As schools reopen for the 2024-2025 academic year, this topic is particularly relevant, weighing heavily on the minds of families, educators, and school nurses. The alarming increase in child gun deaths underscores the urgent need for a shift in our approach to focus on harm reduction and public health principles.
The Epidemic of Gun Violence: A ‘Problem to Be Solved, Not a Battle to Be Won’
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Published by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN
Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN is a Nationally Certified School Nurse, in her 24th year as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. Robin is the New Jersey Director for the National Association of School Nurses. She is proud to be a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow and past program mentor. Robin has been honored by multiple awards for her work in school nursing and population health. She serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing. Robin writes The Relentless School Nurse, a popular blog. Her extensive work in school nursing was included as a case study in the National Academies of Medicine Future of Nursing 2030 report. You can follow Robin on Twitter at @RobinCogan.
View all posts by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN
I’ve been thinking about this since I read it yesterday. It’s beyond sobering, it’s horrifying. We all know that. Then I thought…..(and I have been out of the clinical loop outside of school health for quite a while so maybe all of this is already going on….) do we include the question about firearms in the home coupled with an offer to take a gun lock home…….everywhere? Discharge teaching with newborns, peds, adult medicine, ER. Intake forms for medical practices. School health yearly questionnaires/updates. Just like seat belt use, does anybody smoke in the home, car seats, fire alarms…….
The public health approach to solving the problem of gun violence is finally gaining traction. However, changing behaviors which impacts culture takes time. The first Surgeons’ General official report was in the 60’s and the topic was nicotine/tobacco. It took decades for behavior/culture to change and for policy/legislation to reflect the public health recommendations. Let’s hope this time can be compressed, but still, we have gotten to a place where gun violence is the number one cause of death of children and teens. More than 60% of all gun deaths are suicide and there are now 100 million more guns (approx 400 mil) than people (approx 300 mil). Your ideas are all excellent, but have not been widely adopted, yet…