Tackling the increasing public health impact of firearms: A call to action

The incidence of gun violence in Canada has been increasing with an 81% rise in violent offenses involving guns since 2009. One in three homicides now firearm related. 1The issue extends beyond what is publicized in the news with the RCMP reporting 80% of firearm deaths in Canada being attributed to suicide. 2 Consider the Femicide observatory data: about 2 women per week are killed in Canada. In some years, the most frequent method of killing is by gun. The presence of a gun in the home makes it about 3.5X more likely that a woman will die in a domestic violence situation and that and adolescent will die in a suicide attempt than if a gun is not in the home. It is clear, firearm related injuries or deaths, whether unintentional or intentional, are preventable. Although this is a preventable public health issue, medical students and medical professionals receive minimal to no education on firearm injury, prevention of injury and how they can advocate for change both at the community and systems level. Additionally, despite the impact on our communities, there are many knowledge and research gaps in our understanding of gun violence, especially as this pertains to the Canadian landscape.