Jan. 5, 2026
Ending the Silence on Firearm Safety
By Gregory Engel, MD, MPH
By the time the average American student turns 18, they have seen roughly 200,000 violent acts on television alone, not counting movies, social media, or video games. Many of these scenes glorify firearms, portraying them as symbols of power, masculinity, and personal safety in a dangerous world. The message is clear: Owning or carrying a gun makes you safer.
The data tell a very different story. Firearms in the home are associated with dramatically higher rates of suicide and homicide and carrying a gun is linked to an increased risk of death, not protection. Yet, despite this reality, our schools rarely address firearm injury or prevention. Students are surrounded by powerful myths about guns, but almost never hear the facts. It is time to end the silence.
For years, I worried that discussing firearms in schools would be seen as controversial or political. I was wrong. Over the past decade, I have taught more than 12,000 students about firearm injury prevention. In all that time, I have received zero complaints from parents, teachers, or administrators. Quite the opposite, students and families welcome the conversation. They understand that this is about health and safety, not politics.
As a physician and epidemiologist, I have cared for gunshot victims in the emergency room, supported grieving families in clinic, and studied the data behind firearm injury. In Washington state, firearm deaths have doubled over the past decade, even as the Legislature has passed more than a dozen gun laws. Clearly, legislation alone is not enough. Firearm ownership, concealed carry, and firearm deaths have all increased, underscoring the urgent need for education alongside policy.
Our team brings public health-informed, nonpartisan education to high school classrooms, giving students practical tools to stay safe. We share evidence showing that most firearm deaths are suicides, not mass shootings; that guns kept in the home are far more likely to be used in a suicide or domestic homicide than in self-defense; and that millions of children live in homes with unsecured firearms. We also teach students to recognize warning signs of suicide, practice safe storage, and access resources such as Washington's Extreme Risk Protection Order.
The second decade of life is when students are forming their attitudes toward firearms and firearm violence. The information they receive now, whether from social media, entertainment, or the classroom, shapes how they will approach these issues as adults. We see this education as a first step toward building communities of informed citizens who place safety, not politics or rhetoric, at the center of the conversation.
This work is expanding. In partnership with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Edmonds School District, we developed a two- day curriculum building on our one-day program. It is now being delivered district-wide this fall. The curriculum is evidence-based, pedagogically sound, and engaging for students.
Physicians can help. You can volunteer to teach in classrooms, advocate for firearm injury prevention education in your local schools and districts, raise the issue with community leaders, or bring it into the media and public forums where firearm injury is discussed. We need your energy, your expertise, and your creativity to expand this effort. To learn how you can contribute, contact me at ga_engel@yahoo.com.
When we equip young people with facts and practical skills, we empower them to make safer choices for themselves and for others. Students deserve to know. It is time to end the silence.
Gregory Engel, MD, MPH, is a physician and epidemiologist based on the Key Peninsula. He is vice president for education with Ceasefire Northwest, a nonprofit organization that partners with schools across Washington to provide evidence-based education on firearm injury prevention.
This article was featured in the January/February 2026 issue of WSMA Reports, WSMA's print magazine.