The taboo topic of gun safety in Parkinson's disease
I have been practicing medicine for over 20 years. The reality of gun safety and Parkinson’s— is that we don’t talk about it enough. Watch our Facebook video on gun safety in Parkinson’s. It has become a taboo topic. In fact, if you Pubmed search for articles specific to Parkinson’s disease and gun safety you will find that there are close to zero articles. There are some articles on Alzheimer’s and dementia— and the one on gun safety in JAMA Network Open by Betz and colleagues is very useful.
In the Betz survey, there was a study of US adults (aged ≥35 years) living in homes with firearms
2.6% of people in the Betz survey reported being caregivers of a person with Alzheimer disease or a related dementia (it is possible some of these folks had PD).
41% of these caregivers actually lived with that person.
Most caregivers were open to health care professional counseling about firearm safety, few caregivers ever received any counseling.
The collective data suggest that many community-dwelling adults with dementia have firearm access.
There may be a need for enhanced education and resources for caregivers.
We suggest the following action steps:
Having an open, honest and transparent discussion with the person with Parkinson’s and the caregiver/and or family.
Discuss the risks of vivid dreams or transient confusion or hallucinations/paranoia.
I share with them the story of a Parkinson’s person I once saw who had the gun pointed at a hallucination and the police had to talk him down.
Discuss lock boxes, changing safe combinations, using handprint safes for the firearm with the caregiver’s handprint. Have an open and honest discussion how to keep everyone safe. There is no one right answer for everyone when it comes to firearm safety in Parkinson’s.
