In light of America’s constant bombardment of mass shootings and gun violence, perhaps politicians and voters should start listening to researchers, pediatricians and other doctors. An August, 2019 study published in Pediatrics concluded that universal background checks and strict state gun laws are one of the keys to reducing the deaths of children and teenagers by firearms.
During the 5-year study period, 21,241 children were killed by firearms. Most of the deaths were due to assault. Suicide using a firearm was the second most common cause of death. The majority of deaths were in males and 66% occurred at ages 18 to 21 years.
This study found that stricter gun laws caused a 4% drop in firearm-related mortality rates among children and teenagers. States with stricter laws mandating universal background checks to buy a firearm (that had been in effect for 5 years or more) were found to reduce firearm-related mortality by 35%.
Too many American teenagers have inappropriate access to guns, despite not being able to purchase firearms directly. This leads to an increased risk of serious injury, suicide, homicide and accidental death. Another study, also published in Pediatrics, concluded that every U.S. state should have strict, universal background checks; however, it is also important for every state to use of the “National Instant Criminal Background Check System”. https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2019/11/26/peds.2019-1071
For decades, numerous medical organizations have concluded that gun violence is a preventable public health epidemic. Back in 1985, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published its first data-driven policy statement on gun violence. Thirty-four years since the AAP’s first policy statement, basically nothing has changed at the federal level.
Meanwhile, research has also concluded that the National Rifle Association (NRA) has strongly influenced U.S. politicians, most especially Republicans. Medical-based organizations like the AAP have been less influential over politicians in the past four decades, but voters could change that trend.
The statistics on U.S. gun violence are horrifying. In 2017, a total of 39 773 people died in the USA from firearm-related injury—23 854 (59.98%) were suicides, 14 542 (36.56%) were homicides, 553 (1.39%) were the result of legal intervention, 486 (1.22%) were subsequent to unintentional discharge of a firearm, and 338 (0.85%) were of undetermined origin. Firearm-related deaths now exceed motor vehicle–related deaths.
Americans have 120.5 guns per 100 people and 40% of households have a firearm or multiple firearms. Americans represent 4.35% of the world’s population but its civilians own about 393 million guns. There are a total of approximately 857 million guns owned by civilians in the world so that means Americans possess 46% of the global stock of civilian guns. No other developed country is as gun crazy as the USA. No other country’s public safety is being held hostage by a terrorist-like lobbying group like the NRA.
In stark contrast to New Zealand’s swift legislative response to a single mass shooting, there are still no signs of sweeping, federal-level gun law reform in the self-labeled “land of the free” after being traumatized by a steady barrage of mass shootings. This is despite multiple surveys which show widespread public support for stricter, universal background checks and banning certain types of high-capacity gun magazines and military-style assault rifles. My question is, exactly how does the daily, increased possibility of firearm-related death or injury represent freedom?
Working as a pediatrician in the relatively peaceful city of Eugene, Oregon, gun violence has directly or indirectly hurt or killed many of the people that I served. I have witnessed a young child accidentally shooting his sibling while playing in a home where there was an unlocked and loaded gun. I have witnessed depressed teenagers, depressed parents and even a fellow pediatrician commit suicide with a gun. I have witnessed children being psychologically traumatized by a homicidal shooter on school property. My son used to attend that same school one year before a 17-year old boy was shot. That seemingly trivial, local news story shook up my family. It made us feel that America is not safe enough, not truly free. I have also witnessed how the normalcy of gun violence negatively affects the freedoms our children need to be awarded in order to grow up into healthy, independent adults. Gun violence makes children less free. Unsafe environments exacerbate a helicopter style of parenting.
Most of the law abiding gun owners (e.g., deer and elk hunters) that I met while working as a pediatrician actually agree that something needs to be done. Most agree that Americans need a sweeping public health intervention, similar to the one that reduced motor vehicle crash mortality through seat belt legislation.
On August 7th, 2019, in an article published in Annals of Internal Medicine, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College of Physicians (ACP), American College of Surgeons (ACS), American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychiatric Association (APA) and American Public Health Association (APHA) jointly recommended these eight policies:
1. “Background Checks for Firearm Purchases: Comprehensive criminal background checks for all firearm purchases, including sales by gun dealers, sales at gun shows, private sales, and transfers between individuals with limited exceptions should be required.”
2. “Need for Research on Firearm Injury and Death: Research to help us better understand the causes and consequences of firearm-related injury and death and to identify, test, and implement strategies to reduce these events is important.”
3. “Intimate Partner Violence: Offenders who have been adjudicated guilty of a crime of violence against a family member or intimate partner, including dating partners, cohabitants, stalkers, and those who victimize a family member other than a partner or child, should be reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and be prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms.”
4. “Safe Storage of Firearms: Safe storage is essential to reducing the risk for unintentional or intentional injuries or deaths from firearms, particularly in homes with children, adolescents, people with dementia, people with substance use disorders, and the small subset of people with serious mental illnesses that are associated with greater risk of harming themselves and/or others.”
5. “Mental Health: The organizations represented in this article support improved access to mental health care and caution against broadly including all individuals with a mental health or substance use disorder in a category of individuals prohibited from purchasing firearms.”
6. “Extreme Risk Protection Orders: Extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws, which allow families and law enforcement to petition a judge to temporarily remove firearms from individuals at imminent risk for using them to harm themselves or others, should be enacted in a manner consistent with due process.”
7. “Physician Counseling of Patients and Gag Laws: Physicians can and must be able to advise their patients on issues that affect their health, including counseling at-risk patients about mitigating the risks associated with firearms in the home and firearm safety.”
8. “Firearms With Features Designed to Increase Their Rapid and Extended Killing Capacity: A common-sense approach to reducing casualties in mass shooting situations must effectively address high-capacity magazines and firearms with features designed to increase their rapid and extended killing capacity.”
Now comes the reality check. Will the Senate, the N.R.A.-funded Mitch McConnel and numerous other NRA-funded Republicans, plus the NRA-funded figure head of the Republican Party, help to pass legislation based on good evidence? Will they read that study described at the beginning of this article? Will they read, digest and address the AAFP, AAP, ACP, ACS, AMA, APA and APHA’s priorities for gun violence prevention? No, of course not.
Please vote for politicians at the federal and state levels who enthusiastically endorse common sense gun laws. Vote to make a positive difference in this public health crisis that has needlessly taken so many innocent lives, caused so much physical and emotional suffering, and ripped apart so many families. Lack of common sense gun laws makes every single American less free. Immediately implement laws that address every one of the eight recommended policies.