June 29, 2025 • 14 mins
June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month. Guns are the leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 1 through 17. Dr. Katherine Hoops talks more about the dangers and what you can do to promote gun safety, even if you don’t own a firearm. For more, visit The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is summer. Hopefully everybody's having a great time and
enjoying themselves. Of course, we have some serious stuff to
talk about too. June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month.
Guns in fact, are the leading cause of death in
the US for people ages one through seventeen. Our conversation
with doctor Catherine Hoops from the Johns Hopkins Center for
(00:33):
Gun Violence Solutions. We'll talk about statistics and gun safety
even if you don't own a firearm. Doctor Catherine Hoops,
thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
This is a conversation, as you know, doctor Hoops, that
is often centered around politics. How do you approach it
from a medical point of view?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Now? I actually think that in a time you know
that it feels often like we don't agree on much.
Actually do agree on this. You know a majority of Americans,
over seventy percent, thing that safe firearm storage is a
responsible behavior that we should be requiring, including by law,
(01:14):
to help keep our kids and our families, our communities
safe from firearm injuries and violence. So I approach this
like every sensitive topic that we approach in medicine, with curiosity,
with mutual respect, and trying to understand my patients and
their families perspective on firearm ownership. But ultimately I know
(01:37):
that every parent wants their kids to be safe, to
grow up free from injuries as much as is humanly possible,
to the degree that we can prevent anything. You know,
we always you want our kids to be safe. But
unfortunately there is a big gap here, and we know
that a majority of gun owners, more than half of
gun owners don't consistently safe store all of their firearms securely,
(02:03):
including more than half of gun owners in homes with kids.
So millions of kids are exposed to potential risks in
their home that's posed by unsecured loaded firearms. But this
is absolutely something again on which we agree, and we
can partner with patients, with families, with our family members
(02:25):
to adopt safer storage behaviors.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I'd like to give a little bit of the lay
of the land as far as data goes for this conversation.
So firearms are responsible for thirty percent of deaths that
occurred among older teens ages fifteen to seventeen. Black youth
in particular, face even higher rates of firearm deaths. Fifty
five percent of deaths among black youth ages fifteen to
(02:48):
seventeen were killed by a gun. I imagine you've also
seen doctor hoops the research recently released about gun deaths
of children in states that loosened gun laws. I will
sum up the conversation in short. In twenty ten, the
Supreme Court loosened local government's abilities to restrict gun ownership.
Since then, firearm deaths of children and teenagers rose in
(03:12):
those states significantly. The study finds that the number of
people under eighteen who died from firearm injuries in that
period following twenty ten exceeded the projected figure for that
time by about seventy four hundred, with a total of
twenty three thousand fatalities. This was a study led by
doctor Jeremy Faust, an emergency room doctor at Massachusetts General
(03:35):
Brigham Hospital in Boston, who said he was dismayed to
find that most of the deaths were not caused by accidents,
as you might think, but mostly related to homicide and suicide. Again,
from a medical perspective, what does that suggest to you?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, so, I think that regardless of you know, estate's laws, say,
firearm storage prevents a host of diferent types of injuries.
Not just those tragic accidents, those unintentional firearm injuries, but
safe storage is also protective against suicide and homicide, especially
(04:12):
among youth like you cited on right now. Firearms are
the leading cause of death in kids in the United States.
But secure firearm storage is a simple step that we
can take again, regardless of the laws in our states,
to help keep kids safe at home.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
We're speaking with doctor Catherine Hoops. She is a pediatric
critical care physician and director of clinical programs and Practice
at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. They've
set a goal of reducing gun violence by thirty percent
by twenty thirty. You're listening to get connected on one
six point seven light FM Imina del Rio. So save
firearm storage? What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah? So, safe storage means that every firearm, every gun,
every time, is stored unloaded, locked up and separate from ammunition,
and that unauthorized users, so kids, teens are at risk.
Adults also don't have access to the code to the
safe or the key to the safe, or if you
(05:13):
become worried about someone in the home that you may
need to change the code to the safe, or keep
the key with you, or even consider getting firearms out
of the home. But really the idea here is that
by interrupting a pathway from you know, exposure to injury,
from crisis to injury or even death, we can save
(05:34):
lives through a simple barrier like safe storage. So an
example that I'll sometimes use is, you know that our
kids are curious and they go and they explore our house.
And you know, many people think that they are storing
their firearms safely by putting them in a place that
they don't think their kids would go into or have
(05:54):
access to, like the back of a nightstand drawer or
a high shelf in a closet. But the fact is,
our kids are smart, and they're curious, and they're exploring
their environments. And we know from research that most kids
know where the guns are kept in their house even
when their parents think they don't, making safe storage all
(06:16):
the more important. So when that curious toddler goes exploring
their environment instead of finding, you know, an unsecured loaded
firearm in a night in a nightstand, drawer. Instead, they
find a safe that secures that firearm and maybe has
some buttons that they can push, but they don't find
something that's potentially deadly there in that drawer.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
What about older kids, what do you recommend people tell
their kids about the guns they have, the firearms they have,
and the education that goes along with that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah. Absolutely, And you know, many families see hunting or
shooting sports as a way for their families to spend
time together. That may be, you know, important activity for
many families. And you know, youth may learn gun safety
at a young age. But even for youth who have
taken hunter safety courses for example, or may participate in
(07:13):
shooting sports with their families, it's still important that all
firearms in the home are stored securely so that they
don't have unsupervised, unauthorized access to those firearms because sometimes
impulsive acts in a moment of crisis can turn deadly
when teens, when young people have access to unsecured firearms.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
What do we know about Since we know about the
numbers of deaths and accidents, what do we know about
how safe storage makes a difference.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
So we know from decades of research that say firearm
storage and the laws that compel or promote it are
life saving. You know, these are associated with significant reductions
in unintentional injuries, suicide, homicide, and gun theft. We know
that hundreds of thousands of guns each year are stolen
(08:06):
from homes and cars. That's more likely when those guns
are stored unsecured, So safe storage prevents suicide, homicide, unintentional injury,
and a potential portal of entry for crime guns through theft.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
What can people who don't own or don't have firearms
at home due to promote safegun storage.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, absolutely, everyone has a role here, you know. So
if you aren't a gun owner, maybe that's having a
conversation with a friend or a family member about how
they're safely how they're storing their guns and encourage them
to adopt safer storage behaviors. You know, for parents, the
same way that we wouldn't let our kid go to
(08:49):
a playdate without talking about, you know, their peanut allergy,
we can encourage parents to incorporate a question about how
firearms are stored in the homes that they visit and
play in. You know that conversation may feel a little
awkward at first, but I don't know a parent who
hasn't had an awkward conversation, and some of our toolkit
(09:11):
actually has some guidance to help with those conversation starters,
because that awkward conversation can be life saving.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
You can find that toolkit at the Johns Hopkins Center
for Gun Violence Solutions. Again, the organization has a bold
goal to reduce gun violence thirty percent by twenty thirty
And one of the five key points you're also promoting
is firearm purchaser licensing. Connecticut actually passed a licensing law
in nineteen ninety five. What can you say about how
(09:39):
that changed the numbers there?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
It's one of the most effective tools in our toolkit.
You know, on safe storage alone isn't going to solve
the crisis of gun violence in our country. And so
fortunately there are a number of tools in our toolkit
that together can really have a huge impact, in particular
firearm purchaser licensing laws in some states.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
What are other countries doing right now that reduces gun
violence and accidental shootings? What are they doing right?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, so I think that other countries, you know, and
even you know, there's differences among our individual states work
by limiting access to firearms by people who might be
at risk. So other countries take other strategies, including licensing
strategies and storage provisions, similar to what we're doing, to
(10:35):
also limit access to firearms and prevent these kinds of
injuries and deaths.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
There is a bit of good news. Twenty six states
have some form of safe storage regulation of those that
were studied during this period since twenty ten, which we
mentioned at the beginning of this conversation, in four of
them California, Maryland, Rhode Island, and New York, the number
of firearm deaths actually drops significantly because of heightened laws.
(11:00):
When you're talking about the laws in particular, what might
be the most impactful do you think as far as
gun safety goes?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
You know, I think that you know, all of these
things in combination the public health approach works to reduce
violence and injuries, and right now, especially like you said,
as kids are at home more in the summertime, I
really think that safe storage is the most important thing
that we can be doing to prevent unintentional injuries, suicides,
(11:31):
and homicides, especially among youth in our communities. Right now.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
One of the things you mentioned, the top thing you
mentioned was again to keep your ammunition separate from the
firearms themselves, to keep them in a place where the
kid doesn't necessarily have access to it. Anything else you
can recommend on that front.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I think, you know, everyone wants their kids to be safe,
and many people choose to own firearms for personal protection,
to keep their family safe in the event of a
home invasion or the need for personal protection. And so
I would say that safe storage isn't you know, inconsistent
(12:10):
with that with that desire to have ready access to
a firearm in those cases, we encourage people to use
quick access safes, the one with a key code or
a biometric lock that would still allow them to have
quick access to their firearms in you know, the event
that they would need it, so that they can still
(12:30):
consistently practice safe and secure firearm storage in a way
that's consistent with their desire for keeping a firearm in
their home in the first place.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
And finally, as a pediatrician, why did you want to
be involved in this conversation?
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Oh, you know, I think that you know, firearms haven't
always been the leading cause of death in kids, but
you know, we as pediatricians, especially you know, critical care pediatricians.
We have been seeing the toll of gun violence and
gun injuries in our practices for many years, and mine
(13:07):
certainly is no different. So when one repeatedly, unfortunately sees
preventable injuries and preventable causes of death in children and
young people, it certainly encouraged me to take a more
active role in this mission to end gun violence for
our kids.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Our guest is doctor Catherine Hoops, pediatric critical care physician
and director of clinical programs and Practice at the Johns
Hopkins Center for Gun Violent Solutions. Thank you for being
on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is summer. Hopefully everybody's having a great time and
enjoying themselves. Of course, we have some serious stuff to
talk about too. June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month.
Guns in fact, are the leading cause of death in
the US for people ages one through seventeen. Our conversation
with doctor Catherine Hoops from the Johns Hopkins Center for
(00:33):
Gun Violence Solutions. We'll talk about statistics and gun safety
even if you don't own a firearm. Doctor Catherine Hoops,
thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
This is a conversation, as you know, doctor Hoops, that
is often centered around politics. How do you approach it
from a medical point of view?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Now? I actually think that in a time you know
that it feels often like we don't agree on much.
Actually do agree on this. You know a majority of Americans,
over seventy percent, thing that safe firearm storage is a
responsible behavior that we should be requiring, including by law,
(01:14):
to help keep our kids and our families, our communities
safe from firearm injuries and violence. So I approach this
like every sensitive topic that we approach in medicine, with curiosity,
with mutual respect, and trying to understand my patients and
their families perspective on firearm ownership. But ultimately I know
(01:37):
that every parent wants their kids to be safe, to
grow up free from injuries as much as is humanly possible,
to the degree that we can prevent anything. You know,
we always you want our kids to be safe. But
unfortunately there is a big gap here, and we know
that a majority of gun owners, more than half of
gun owners don't consistently safe store all of their firearms securely,
(02:03):
including more than half of gun owners in homes with kids.
So millions of kids are exposed to potential risks in
their home that's posed by unsecured loaded firearms. But this
is absolutely something again on which we agree, and we
can partner with patients, with families, with our family members
(02:25):
to adopt safer storage behaviors.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I'd like to give a little bit of the lay
of the land as far as data goes for this conversation.
So firearms are responsible for thirty percent of deaths that
occurred among older teens ages fifteen to seventeen. Black youth
in particular, face even higher rates of firearm deaths. Fifty
five percent of deaths among black youth ages fifteen to
(02:48):
seventeen were killed by a gun. I imagine you've also
seen doctor hoops the research recently released about gun deaths
of children in states that loosened gun laws. I will
sum up the conversation in short. In twenty ten, the
Supreme Court loosened local government's abilities to restrict gun ownership.
Since then, firearm deaths of children and teenagers rose in
(03:12):
those states significantly. The study finds that the number of
people under eighteen who died from firearm injuries in that
period following twenty ten exceeded the projected figure for that
time by about seventy four hundred, with a total of
twenty three thousand fatalities. This was a study led by
doctor Jeremy Faust, an emergency room doctor at Massachusetts General
(03:35):
Brigham Hospital in Boston, who said he was dismayed to
find that most of the deaths were not caused by accidents,
as you might think, but mostly related to homicide and suicide. Again,
from a medical perspective, what does that suggest to you?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, so, I think that regardless of you know, estate's laws, say,
firearm storage prevents a host of diferent types of injuries.
Not just those tragic accidents, those unintentional firearm injuries, but
safe storage is also protective against suicide and homicide, especially
(04:12):
among youth like you cited on right now. Firearms are
the leading cause of death in kids in the United States.
But secure firearm storage is a simple step that we
can take again, regardless of the laws in our states,
to help keep kids safe at home.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
We're speaking with doctor Catherine Hoops. She is a pediatric
critical care physician and director of clinical programs and Practice
at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. They've
set a goal of reducing gun violence by thirty percent
by twenty thirty. You're listening to get connected on one
six point seven light FM Imina del Rio. So save
firearm storage? What does that look like?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah? So, safe storage means that every firearm, every gun,
every time, is stored unloaded, locked up and separate from ammunition,
and that unauthorized users, so kids, teens are at risk.
Adults also don't have access to the code to the
safe or the key to the safe, or if you
(05:13):
become worried about someone in the home that you may
need to change the code to the safe, or keep
the key with you, or even consider getting firearms out
of the home. But really the idea here is that
by interrupting a pathway from you know, exposure to injury,
from crisis to injury or even death, we can save
(05:34):
lives through a simple barrier like safe storage. So an
example that I'll sometimes use is, you know that our
kids are curious and they go and they explore our house.
And you know, many people think that they are storing
their firearms safely by putting them in a place that
they don't think their kids would go into or have
(05:54):
access to, like the back of a nightstand drawer or
a high shelf in a closet. But the fact is,
our kids are smart, and they're curious, and they're exploring
their environments. And we know from research that most kids
know where the guns are kept in their house even
when their parents think they don't, making safe storage all
(06:16):
the more important. So when that curious toddler goes exploring
their environment instead of finding, you know, an unsecured loaded
firearm in a night in a nightstand, drawer. Instead, they
find a safe that secures that firearm and maybe has
some buttons that they can push, but they don't find
something that's potentially deadly there in that drawer.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
What about older kids, what do you recommend people tell
their kids about the guns they have, the firearms they have,
and the education that goes along with that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah. Absolutely, And you know, many families see hunting or
shooting sports as a way for their families to spend
time together. That may be, you know, important activity for
many families. And you know, youth may learn gun safety
at a young age. But even for youth who have
taken hunter safety courses for example, or may participate in
(07:13):
shooting sports with their families, it's still important that all
firearms in the home are stored securely so that they
don't have unsupervised, unauthorized access to those firearms because sometimes
impulsive acts in a moment of crisis can turn deadly
when teens, when young people have access to unsecured firearms.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
What do we know about Since we know about the
numbers of deaths and accidents, what do we know about
how safe storage makes a difference.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
So we know from decades of research that say firearm
storage and the laws that compel or promote it are
life saving. You know, these are associated with significant reductions
in unintentional injuries, suicide, homicide, and gun theft. We know
that hundreds of thousands of guns each year are stolen
(08:06):
from homes and cars. That's more likely when those guns
are stored unsecured, So safe storage prevents suicide, homicide, unintentional injury,
and a potential portal of entry for crime guns through theft.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
What can people who don't own or don't have firearms
at home due to promote safegun storage.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, absolutely, everyone has a role here, you know. So
if you aren't a gun owner, maybe that's having a
conversation with a friend or a family member about how
they're safely how they're storing their guns and encourage them
to adopt safer storage behaviors. You know, for parents, the
same way that we wouldn't let our kid go to
(08:49):
a playdate without talking about, you know, their peanut allergy,
we can encourage parents to incorporate a question about how
firearms are stored in the homes that they visit and
play in. You know that conversation may feel a little
awkward at first, but I don't know a parent who
hasn't had an awkward conversation, and some of our toolkit
(09:11):
actually has some guidance to help with those conversation starters,
because that awkward conversation can be life saving.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
You can find that toolkit at the Johns Hopkins Center
for Gun Violence Solutions. Again, the organization has a bold
goal to reduce gun violence thirty percent by twenty thirty
And one of the five key points you're also promoting
is firearm purchaser licensing. Connecticut actually passed a licensing law
in nineteen ninety five. What can you say about how
(09:39):
that changed the numbers there?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
It's one of the most effective tools in our toolkit.
You know, on safe storage alone isn't going to solve
the crisis of gun violence in our country. And so
fortunately there are a number of tools in our toolkit
that together can really have a huge impact, in particular
firearm purchaser licensing laws in some states.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
What are other countries doing right now that reduces gun
violence and accidental shootings? What are they doing right?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, so I think that other countries, you know, and
even you know, there's differences among our individual states work
by limiting access to firearms by people who might be
at risk. So other countries take other strategies, including licensing
strategies and storage provisions, similar to what we're doing, to
(10:35):
also limit access to firearms and prevent these kinds of
injuries and deaths.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
There is a bit of good news. Twenty six states
have some form of safe storage regulation of those that
were studied during this period since twenty ten, which we
mentioned at the beginning of this conversation, in four of
them California, Maryland, Rhode Island, and New York, the number
of firearm deaths actually drops significantly because of heightened laws.
(11:00):
When you're talking about the laws in particular, what might
be the most impactful do you think as far as
gun safety goes?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
You know, I think that you know, all of these
things in combination the public health approach works to reduce
violence and injuries, and right now, especially like you said,
as kids are at home more in the summertime, I
really think that safe storage is the most important thing
that we can be doing to prevent unintentional injuries, suicides,
(11:31):
and homicides, especially among youth in our communities. Right now.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
One of the things you mentioned, the top thing you
mentioned was again to keep your ammunition separate from the
firearms themselves, to keep them in a place where the
kid doesn't necessarily have access to it. Anything else you
can recommend on that front.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I think, you know, everyone wants their kids to be safe,
and many people choose to own firearms for personal protection,
to keep their family safe in the event of a
home invasion or the need for personal protection. And so
I would say that safe storage isn't you know, inconsistent
(12:10):
with that with that desire to have ready access to
a firearm in those cases, we encourage people to use
quick access safes, the one with a key code or
a biometric lock that would still allow them to have
quick access to their firearms in you know, the event
that they would need it, so that they can still
(12:30):
consistently practice safe and secure firearm storage in a way
that's consistent with their desire for keeping a firearm in
their home in the first place.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
And finally, as a pediatrician, why did you want to
be involved in this conversation?
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Oh, you know, I think that you know, firearms haven't
always been the leading cause of death in kids, but
you know, we as pediatricians, especially you know, critical care pediatricians.
We have been seeing the toll of gun violence and
gun injuries in our practices for many years, and mine
(13:07):
certainly is no different. So when one repeatedly, unfortunately sees
preventable injuries and preventable causes of death in children and
young people, it certainly encouraged me to take a more
active role in this mission to end gun violence for
our kids.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Our guest is doctor Catherine Hoops, pediatric critical care physician
and director of clinical programs and Practice at the Johns
Hopkins Center for Gun Violent Solutions. Thank you for being
on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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