Dr. Gregory Engel from Washington Cease Fire recently reached out to AWSP upon the recommendation of OSPI. He is a medical doctor who works with UW Medical School students to help educate students about the facts of firearm injury.
Since 2017, with the help of a grant from the King County Academy of Family Physicians, they have reached nearly 10,000 students in grades 9-12 at more than two dozen Washington State high schools. The presentation has been vetted by Lisa Love, Director of Health Curricula for Seattle Public Schools. The Superintendents of the Tacoma and Edmonds school districts recommend it to their health instructors and it has been enthusiastically received by students, teachers, and administrators. Administrators and teachers at Edmonds are working to make education on firearm injury prevention a standard part of the health curriculum.
Below is more information from Dr. Engel. If you are interested in having him and/or his team present to your high school health classes, please contact him at ga_engel@yahoo.com. There is no cost for schools. They are currently taking bookings for May, June, and the 2025-26 school year.
Students deserve to know the facts about firearm injury. Currently, they get their information from television, movies, social media, and even video games. By the time the average U.S. student graduates from high school, they have seen 200,000 violent acts on television alone, many portraying the use of firearms. Instruction on firearm violence is not included in Washington State’s health education standards.
When most people think about firearm violence, they think about the tragic mass shootings that the media cover periodically in our country. What they may not realize is that mass shootings account for less than 1% of firearm deaths. Firearm deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in half the states in the country, including Washington State. Suicides make up the majority of those deaths. From a health standpoint, firearm violence is particularly relevant to high school students. Firearm injury is the leading cause of death in this age group.
Unfortunately, the conversation on firearm violence in this country is one of polarization, pitting “gun control” advocates against “gun rights” advocates in a shouting match that takes place in the political arena and that saves no lives. The perception of firearm injury as a political, rather than a health issue, has hampered the application of public health tools aimed at reducing death and injuries.
Firearm Injury Prevention Educators have been providing public health-informed education on firearm injury prevention for the past seven years. We present the facts of gun violence to high school students, without embellishment or a political agenda. We focus on the high school population for three reasons: One, there is an important health lesson to be learned. We discuss how public health professionals think about health issues and go about promoting safety and saving lives. This is critical information for youth who are learning how our society works. Washington State needs informed citizens who can make choices that will lead to safer, healthier communities. Two, firearms are ubiquitous in the U.S., and firearm violence is an unfortunate reality. There are practical, important steps students can take to keep themselves, their friends, and their families safe and healthy. And three, health classes are a promising venue to reach large numbers of people in an efficient manner.
We want to provide this critically important information to all Washington high school students. If you are a parent, teacher, or principal and would like to invite us to teach at your school or would like more information about our program, please contact us.
Sincerely,
Gregory Engel, MD, MPH
Gun Violence Prevention Educators
ga_engel@yahoo.com