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Firearm Policy in the Hospital Setting

To the Editor In their article, Mr Romero and colleagues discussed the consequences of recent Supreme Court decisions on the possession of firearms, especially the possibility that declaring hospitals a firearm-free domain breaches Second Amendment rights. If that is true, then it applies to hospital staff as well as patients and their relatives. How will patients feel about their physician having an AR-15 on their desk during an examination?

Firearm Policy in the Hospital Setting

In Reply In September 2024, a US appeals court struck down California’s prohibition on firearms in health care settings, citing the Supreme Court’s new requirement that modern gun laws be evaluated based on whether they are consistent with historical tradition rather than their ability to address the threat and reality of gun violence. Under this “originalist” approach, whether hospitals qualify as “sensitive places” where guns can be prohibited turns on whether judges believe hospitals to be sufficiently similar to places where guns have historically been prohibited.

Firearm access, carriage and use; sample of young adults in Texas

Background Despite the high rates of firearm ownership and firearm-related injuries and mortalities in Southern US states, understandings on the factors contributing to these are lacking.

Methods Using wave 10 (2021) data from a longitudinal study, we examined firearm-related experiences among 636 ethnically diverse young adults (mean age=26 years; 62% female) in Texas, USA.

Results Just over half of participants had ready access to firearms, with 22.3% having carried a firearm outside of their home, 4.9% having been threatened with a firearm by a romantic partner and 4.4% by a non-romantic partner. More firearm access and carriage were reported in males, white participants and those with >US$50 000 income. More females than males had been threatened with a firearm by a romantic partner, but more males than females had been threatened by a non-partner. Participants with recent financial difficulties were proportionally more likely to be threatened with a firearm than those without difficulties.

Conclusion Findings emphasise the alarming rate of firearm access and carriage in Texas and highlight the disparities in firearms experiences by sociodemographic characteristics.