Brady’s This is Our Lane Campaign Launches New Resource to Help Healthcare Providers Discuss Gun Access and Safety

Through evidence-based best practices, sample scripts, and patient resources, this crucial new guide aims to destigmatize conversations around gun safety and help drive down rates of gun death and injury 

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 20, 2025 — Today, Brady’s This is Our Lane campaign, led by gun violence survivor and Johns Hopkins trauma surgeon Dr. Joseph Sakran, launched “How to Talk to Patients about Gun Access and Safety,” a critical new resource guide to help healthcare practitioners across all spectrums engage in important conversations about firearm access and safety with their patients. 

This is Our Lane was created in response to a 2018 comment by the NRA suggesting doctors should "stay in their lane" regarding firearm violence. This galvanized healthcare professionals to assert their critical role in addressing this public health crisis — just as they address other health and safety issues like cigarette use and seatbelt safety in a non judgemental but lifesaving way. This new resource fills a gap in education and a stated need by responding to the fact that over half of clinicians report that they avoid discussing firearm access and safety with patients due to concerns about feeling unprepared or alienating patients. However, research shows that most patients welcome these discussions, and they are effective in reducing firearm death and injury, including among children. With firearms the leading cause of death of children and adolescents in the U.S. and gun violence costing an annual $2.8 billion in medical and mental health care, these non judgemental conversations are urgently needed.

The guide, created with expertise from This is Our Lane’s renowned Advisory Council, is also being studied in partnership with Rice University (IRB-FY2025-106), via a survey seeking to identify the challenges healthcare professionals face when discussing firearm safety with their patients and how the guide might better support them in these conversations.

The resource will be initially distributed to over 300,000 healthcare professionals and medical students across private practices, hospital systems, nonprofits, associations, and more. It offers evidence-based best practices, simulated conversations with patients tailored to different patient demographics and regions, and resources to equip doctors with the tools they need to have these nonjudgmental and unbiased health and safety discussions. This effort will be followed by marketing assets created pro bono by creative and media agency dentsu.

Brady President Kris Brown said:

Just like smoking and seatbelts, gun violence is a public health crisis that requires public health solutions. This is a crisis we can’t ignore: Every day, over 300 people are shot in America, and gun violence continues to be the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S. 

At Brady, we know that prevention works. Education about simple safety measures — like storing all guns locked, unloaded, and inaccessible to children — reduces tragedies, including unintentional shootings, homicide, and suicide. More than half of gun owners aware of our national End Family Fire public education campaign — which is focused on preventing family fire through safe storage of guns — have changed how or where they keep firearms to ensure they are stored in a safer manner. 

This new resource builds on that tradition of success, offering healthcare professionals practical and unbiased tools to engage their patients in everyday conversations about firearm access and safety with respect and precision. Healthcare professionals can’t afford to sit passively on the sidelines. By empowering practitioners to take proactive steps to address this topic, we’re confident that this resource will prevent senseless tragedies in homes and communities across the country.

Dr. Joseph Sakran, Brady Chief Medical Officer and founder of Brady’s This is Our Lane, said:

As both a physician and a survivor of a shooting, I understand firsthand the devastating impact this epidemic of gun violence has on our patients and communities. Nearly 4.6 million children across the country live in a home with an unlocked firearm, and 8 children are killed due to family fire every day. But prevention is the best medicine, and healthcare physicians are uniquely positioned to intervene, keep Americans safe, and save lives — and it all starts with just a conversation.

It’s simple: Asking about gun access is no more personal or political than asking about smoking or alcohol use. With the launch of this resource guide, we are empowering my colleagues in healthcare to treat gun violence as the public health crisis it is. In the trusted space of the patient-clinician relationship, we have the power to cut through the noise of divisive politics and focus on real, evidence-based solutions — giving patients the tools they need to protect themselves, their families, and their communities for a safer, healthier future.

To learn more about Brady’s new resource, tune into the Association of Healthcare Journalists (AHCJ) upcoming webinar “Reporting on the Crucial Role Doctors Play in Gun Violence Prevention” on February 21 at 12:00 p.m. ET. The event will feature Dr. Sakran in conversation with Kaitlin Washburn, AHCJ’s Health Beat Leader for Firearm Violence. To register, click HERE.