• Ingrid A Binswanger and John A Cowan.
• Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado, USA.
• J Trauma. 2009 Mar 1;66(3):906-11.

BackgroundFirearms are a major cause of injury and death. We sought to determine (1) the prevalence of movie scenes that depicted firearms and verbal firearm safety messages; (2) the context and health outcomes in firearm scenes; and (3) the association between the Motion Picture Association of America ratings and firearm scene characteristics.MethodsTen top revenue-grossing motion pictures were selected for each year from 1995 to 2004 in descending order of gross revenues. Data on firearm scenes were collected by movie coders using dual-monitor computer workstations and real-time collection tools.ResultsSeventy of the 100 movies had scenes with firearms and the majority of movies with firearms were rated PG-13. Firearm scenes (N = 624) accounted for 17% of screen time in movies with firearms. Among firearm scenes, crime or illegal activity was involved in 45%, deaths occurred in 19%, and injuries occurred in 12%. A verbal reference to safety was made in 0.8%.ConclusionsDepictions of firearms in top revenue-grossing movies were common, but safety messages were exceedingly rare. Major motion pictures present an under-used opportunity for education about firearm safety.

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