The Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) just put a lump of coal in the stockings of Second Amendment activists in the state by recommending that firearms be removed from households where children are present.
In addition, the agency’s annual report says the state should require mental health screening and firearm safety training for anyone buying a firearm, and initiate licensing of gun owners and tracking firearm ownership. The report also recommended “proper storage of all firearms” and limiting access to firearms.
The 31st annual report from the AZDHS Child Fatality Review Team shows the top leading causes of death among children in 2023 in the state were (1) motor vehicle crashes, which cost 81 lives, (2) firearm injury, 68 death, (3) suffocation, 52 fatalities, (4) (fentanyl) poisoning, 34 deaths, and (5) drowning, 31 victims.
According to Arizona Free News, the report—published last month—was delivered to the governor and leaders in both the state Senate and House “for the purpose of guiding policy and even influencing state intervention.”
The report said 853 children died in Arizona in 2023, and the review teams “teams determined that 49% of these deaths were preventable,” although it is not clear how. In the case of vehicle crashes, the report said the responsible driver was under age 19, and ten of those drivers were between 13 and 15 years old. In 22 cases, the drivers were in the 16-18 age bracket.
Of the 68 firearms deaths, all were determined to have been preventable, the report maintains. The Child Fatality Review Program (CFRP) “believes that the most effective way to prevent firearm-related deaths in children is to remove all firearms in households with children because the presence of firearms in a household increases the risk of suicide among adolescents,” the report said.
“Parents of all adolescents should remove all guns from their homes, especially if there is a history of mental health issues or substance use issues,” the report added. “In addition, CFRP recommends that all gun owners should practice safe storage of their firearms by keeping guns unloaded and locked in a safe separate from the ammunition.”
The Arizona Free News story said Mary Rimza, chair of the CFRP team, authored the report’s opening message, in which she stated “access to guns was the biggest risk factor for firearm deaths.” She is a research professor of Health Management and Policy at Arizona State University, and is also a pediatrician and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Arizona Free News said.
Several of the child fatalities were the result of homicides, the report acknowledged.
Back on Page 65 of the 161-page document, one finds a list of the “Top 5 Injury Death Prevention Recommendations.” The first item on that list:
(1) Increase public awareness that the most effective way to prevent firearm-related deaths in children and adolescents is to remove all firearms in households.
- The presence of firearms in a household increases the risk of suicide among adolescents. Parents of all adolescents should remove all guns, especially if there is a history of mental health issues or substance use issues.
- Gun owners should practice safe storage of their firearms, which requires keeping the gun unloaded and locked in a safe separate from the ammunition.
The gun removal and mental health evaluation recommendations were quick to alarm gun owners. Increasingly extreme gun prohibition organizations have been calling for mental health evaluations for guy buyers, and it is a politically toxic subject. After all, say gun rights advocates, this is not just a question about guns, but about constitutionally-enumerated rights.
The Arizona State Constitution (Article II, Section 26), which was adopted Feb. 14, 1912, reads, “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself of the State shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men.” Except for a couple of commas, it is exactly the same language found in Article I, Section 24 of the Washington State Constitution, which was adopted Nov. 11, 1889.
By no small coincidence, Washington gun owners are also facing more trouble in 2025 from the Democrat-dominated legislature, which is beholden to anti-gunners.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
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