"Smart" Choices: Shared Decision-making in Firearm Storage and Personalized Firearms.

Abstract

* Abbreviation: AAP — : American Academy of Pediatrics Firearm injury is a leading cause of preventable death in children. In this issue of Pediatrics , the authors of the article “Family Firearm Ownership and Firearm-Related Mortality Among Young Children: 1976–2016” present a unique and important approach to evaluating the relationship between firearm ownership and firearm-related mortality.1 The study is novel because Prickett et al1 focus on the youngest and most vulnerable group (children <5 years of age) and evaluate trends in household gun ownership by type of firearm. Over the ∼40 years studied, Prickett et al1 found increasing firearm-related mortality rates in young children despite a downward trend in overall firearm ownership among families with young children. Most importantly, however, although overall firearm ownership decreased, the proportion of families who own handguns increased. This shift of firearm ownership from predominantly rifles (presumably for hunting) to handguns (presumably for self-protection) may provide 1 explanation for the recent increase in firearm-related mortality among young children. As firearm-related mortality in younger children is mostly unintentional, these … Address correspondence to Kavita Parikh, MD, MSHS, Division of Hospital Medicine, Children’s National Health System, 111 Michigan Ave NW, Suite 4800, Washington, DC 20010. E-mail: kparikh{at}childrensnational.org