MMA Partners on Study Focused on Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling

January 15, 2026

On December 29, 2025, an interview study on clinical firearm safety counseling, authored by several researchers, MMA members, and MMA staff, was published in the American Journal of Health Promotion.   

The co-authors of the study conducted an interview study during 2023-2024 with physicians who have incorporated firearm safety counseling into their clinical practice. The co-authors hoped to learn the following:  

• how do clinicians make such counseling work in their clinical practice,  

• what are their real-life experiences with this, and  

• what tips do they have for other clinicians who are also interested in conducting firearm safety counseling.  

The participants’ key message was that firearm safety counseling is easy and fast, that almost all patients react positively, and occasional less-than positive reactions can be easily defused. The participants in the study also showcased that barriers to clinical firearm safety counseling can be overcome. 

This study was co-authored by Kate Weis, MPH (MMA member and medical student at the University of Minnesota Medical School); Thomas E. Kottke, MD, MSPH (MMA member and member of the HealthPartners Institute); Juliana Milhofer, JD (MMA manager of public health policy & community health partnerships); Iris Borowsky, MD, PhD (Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School); and Patricia Jewett, PhD (School or Public Health, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Minnesota).