American College of Physicians updates policy recommendations for reducing gun-related injuries and deaths in the U.S.

1. The American College of Physicians (ACP) revises and expands on current policy recommendations regarding gun-related injuries and deaths.

2. The evidence for policy changes stemmed from a thorough literature review and discussions with experts in this field.

Evidence Rating Level: 2 (Good)

Study Rundown: The United States has some of the highest firearm-related mortality rates among industrialized countries. The ACP has long advocated for reduced firearm-related injuries, and it has updated its policy recommendations related to gun-related injuries and death in the United States. The new policy recommendations expand on current policies based on newly available data. Generally, the authors reaffirmed several of the statements and provided new and revised policies related to other positions of the statement. A strength of this study was that evidence was reviewed from a variety of peer-reviewed and grey literature sources, including PubMed, Google Scholar, news articles and Web sites. The study was limited in that supporting evidence was not revisited for guideline positions deemed still relevant.

Click to read the study in Annals of Internal Medicine 

Relevant Reading: Yes, You Can: Physicians, Patients, and Firearms

In-Depth [policy statement]: The authors drafted a policy paper that addressed current ACP policies approved by the Board of Regents in April 2014. The authors identified positions that were still relevant and did not revisit supporting evidence for these positions. They further identified gaps in policy and re-evaluated new evidence related to recommendations that required modification or were newly introduced. The recommendations were based on literature reviewed by a variety of boards and councils with expertise in this domain. Some of the modified position statements included the guidelines regarding regulation of the purchase of legal firearms and best practices related to reducing risk of accidental or intentional injuries or deaths from firearms.

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