Doctors Discussing Gun Safety With Elder Patients
Kaiser Health News published a compilation of recent stories about gun safety and one caught my eye: the advantage of doctors discussing gun safety with elder patients. Doctors Should Be Discussing Gun Safety With Aging Patients, Researchers Say.
The reference to the story from the LA TImes, As more older Americans struggle with dementia, what happens to their guns?seemed particularly on point and the KHN story published the opening from the LA Times article
The man had been a patient for decades, retired now from a career in which firearms were a part of the job. He was enjoying his days hunting, or at the shooting range with friends. But episodes of confusion had led to a suspicion of dementia, and the nights were the worst: At sundown, he became disoriented, anxious and a little paranoid, and had started sleeping with his loaded pistol under the pillow. One night, he pointed it at his wife as she returned from the bathroom. It wasn’t clear whether he recognized her, but he was certainly confused — and she was terrified. Thankfully, the incident did not end in disaster.
Regardless of your position on the gun control debate, consider these statistics from the LA Times article
Roughly 1 in 3 adults over 65 in the United States is thought to own a gun. An additional 12% live in a household with someone who does.
As seniors turn 70, their odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease in a given year jump from less than 1% (among those 65 to 69) to 2.5% (among those 70 to 74), and keep rising from there. By 2050, the number of older Americans with Alzheimer’s is expected to reach 13.8 million.
The article discusses driver safety and draws corollaries to gun safety. The article highlights the lack of response to this issue at the state level:
No federal laws prohibit the purchase or possession of firearms by a person with dementia. Only two states, Hawaii and Texas, explicitly mention dementia or similar conditions in their firearms statutes.
In Hawaii, any person under treatment for “organic brain syndromes” is prohibited from owning a gun. Texas law makes individuals diagnosed with “chronic dementia” ineligible for a license to carry a handgun in public. But it does not limit such a person’s right to purchase or possess firearms.
One expert quoted in the article describes this as not an issue of taking away someone’s guns but instead a decision that focuses on the person’s safety.