AMA firearm policies support physicians' role in initiating extreme risk protection orders

Key takeaways:

• Over 20 states have laws to remove guns from high-risk people, but few include medical providers as those who can petition removal.
• AMA also called for stronger background checks and social media monitoring.

The AMA adopted three new policies regarding firearm violence on the final day of its House of Delegates meeting, one of which advocates for physicians to be able to petition courts to temporarily remove firearms from high-risk patients.

Firearm violence and injuries have surged in the United States in recent years. MMWR data showed that firearm injury visits to the ED in 2022 remained higher than levels before the COVID-19 pandemic. A separate study revealed a 52% increase in firearm injuries among youth during the pandemic.

Extreme risk protection orders

According to the AMA, more than 20 states have enacted extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws that allow family or household members, intimate partners and law enforcement to petition courts to remove firearms from high-risk individuals, but “few jurisdictions include medical professionals as parties who can initiate ERPOs.”

Through its new policy, the AMA advocates for the inclusion of medical professionals as those who can request ERPOs to prevent someone at high risk to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing firearms.

The policy also supports work with other organizations to update medical curriculum and physician training on how to handle conversations with high-risk patients and families and how to use ERPOs.

“Physicians are encouraged to ask patients at risk of firearm injury about access to firearms during routine patient visits,” AMA Immediate Past President Jack Resneck Jr., MD, said in a press release. “Allowing physicians to petition the courts when they encounter a patient at risk of firearm violence is necessary and could help prevent further firearm-related tragedies.”

Strengthening background checks, gun sale prevention

As mass shootings continue to occur at high rates in the U.S., “it is critical that we further strengthen policies aimed at preventing firearm violence,” Resneck Jr. said.

Under another new policy, the AMA advocates for federal and state policies that:

• prevent gifting, transferring or inheriting ownership of guns without abiding to all state and federal laws for background checks, waiting periods or licensure requirements; and
• prevent the sale of multiple firearms to the same purchaser within 5 business days and to enforce background checks for ammunition purchases.

“No individual should be able to purchase an arsenal of firearms in a short period of time or buy ammunition without a background check,” Resneck Jr. said. “We will continue to advocate for laws and policies that reduce the risk of firearm violence and keep our communities safe.”

Gun violence on social media

Under the AMA’s third firearm policy, the organization advocates for social media platforms to aggressively remove posts that contain videos, photographs and written comments encouraging and glorifying firearm use.

“Misinformation and disinformation continue to spread through social media largely unchecked,” Resneck Jr. said. “With more than 48,000 Americans dying and tens of thousands more seriously injured from firearms every year, we can’t sit by while firearm violence is glorified through social media sites.”

The AMA recommended that social media sites update and monitor algorithms to detect and delete information that displays firearm violence in a way that could encourage viewers to act aggressively.

Last month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, issued an advisory urging for more actions to ensure safer social media use in youth to limit potential mental health risks. Murthy said that adolescents are at a critical point in brain development that may increase vulnerability to harm. In addition, previous research has shown that adolescents with depression or suicidal ideations have increased perceived access to firearms.

“We implore social media sites to take immediate action to limit these dangerous posts, people’s lives depend on it,” Resneck Jr. said.

References:

• AMA adopts new policies on firearm violence. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-adopts-new-policies-firearm-violence-0. Published June 14, 2023. Accessed June 15, 2023.
• Zwald M, et al. MWWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2023;doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7213a2.