I would like to hear from counties that are working to address issues related to gun violence from a public health perspective. Any information on collaborative efforts within your counties, data points used to define the problem, and evidence based strategies for prevention and intervention would be appreciated.

Since June of this year, we have provided families/individuals with gun locks through various channels including:

• During home visits: Our MCH nurses, community health workers, and Early Intervention Service Coordinators provide gun locks during their home visits.
• Requests: Individuals calling to request a gun lock are directed to our Community Health Worker who will respond to their requests and make arrangements for the locks to either be picked up or delivered.
• We hand out gun locks at car safety seat events throughout the county

Our Sheriff’s Office provides us with the gun locks through a grant they receive.

In Ulster County we have worked with gun shop owners to help them educate their clients about gun safety. We have provided them with educational materials on prevention of suicide (reducing access to lethal means), gun safety (using gun locks, etc.), and provided other behavioral health resources to assist their clients at risk of decompensation and violence. We have made outreach to gun show organizers and have tabled at these events. We regularly provide lists of recent decedents in the County to the Sheriff. so that he can check if any of the deceased had gun permits. The guns would be removed from households that no longer had permitted gun owners. Our efforts have generally been well received.