Kansas City Academy of Family Physicians

Missourians enjoy the right to own, and carry firearms though the 2 nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Missouri Constitution, and state statutes. Firearms safety is an important part of firearms ownership for the armed citizen. Firearm owner’s manuals provide instruction on methods to safely load, unload, use safeties, and fire that particular firearm. Professional instruction is also highly recommended. Most firearm retailers have trained staff capable of explaining the safe operation of firearms. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has tens of thousands of reputable certified firearm instructors across the nation. The Lee’s Summit Police Department (LSPD) firearm instructors receive NRA instructor certification. The National Institute of Health and NRA recommend teaching children to never touch a gun without adult supervision. Children finding a gun should be taught to leave it alone and tell an adult immediately. Teaching children gun safety early in life can remove t...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that excessive alcohol use causes one in ten deaths in adults ages 20- to 64-years-old. At 88,000 deaths per year between the years of 2006 and 2010, it is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in that age group.  Additionally, the CDC notes that, although drinking below the age of 21 is illegal, people between the ages of 12 and 20 years of age consume 11% of all alcohol ingested in the United States.  Excessive drinking in the underage population accounts for 4,300 deaths annually.   While the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) cites some benefits from moderate alcohol consumption--decreased risk for heart disease, decreased risk of ischemic stroke and decreased risk of diabetes--it indicates that 47% of the 78,529 liver disease deaths in 2015 were alcohol related.  Moreover, drinking alcohol increases the risks of cancer in the mouth, esophagus, pharynx, lar...