Joel Fein often tells the story to parents of his young patients at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: how, when he was a child, he knew the contents of every drawer and closet in his family home. There were no shelves he hadn't rummaged through, no hiding places he hadn't uncovered. His parents didn't own a gun, he said, but if they did, and it wasn't locked away in a safe, he probably would have found it.
It's what children do, he said. Fein and his colleagues at CHOP are part of a growing number of pediatricians working under a newfound urgency to educate families on safe firearm storage as gun ownership rises, suicide rates among adolescents surge, and as guns have become the leading cause of death for American children. Counseling families about where and how they store their weapons has typically been at the discretion of the doctor, and it's a recommended practice pediatricians have been following for decades, similar to how they ask about car seats, pools, allergies, and household chemical storage.
But doctors at CHOP are now not only discussing the subject with parents, but also providing free gun locks to Philadelphians in need. Plans are in the works to also offer free keypad safes in the coming months. Questions about gun safety and storage are now built into many of the hospital system's primary care patient questionnaires.
Much in the same way doctors are reminded to ask about nutrition, sleep, and development, they're now prompted to discuss the topic at all .