I work EMS in a mid-sized metro in the mid-west. Recently I treated my 101st gunshot victim. (actually it was my 100th and 101st, as we had two people shot and transported both to the trauma center).
Now I started doing EMS in 1997, and have treated more than 101 people for gun shot wounds (GSW). My first was the fall of 97, a hunter was hit by a shot in the back while leaning back against a tree. (it split about half way up his back and a slug hit between the two trunks from a shot taken over 150 yards away. Everyone agreed it was a “freak accident” as you could not have made the shot if you tried.) Working a rural area, most GSW’s were hunting related or negligent discharges. I only have four noted in my journal but know there were a few more. I don’t count them.
From a rural upstate New York area I went to Baltimore County, major change in call volume and GSW’s. I found several in my journal, and also know there were many more.
Years passed and some of the places I was serving in the Army at had volunteer systems I worked with and there were a few more.
I got out in Cleveland, worked there for five years and saw several. Then moved to the spouses home town and work there today. What prompted keep track was a call from the Assistant District Attorney (who was new) who was calling to talk to me about a shooting that was going to trial. She got hold of me and asked “what can you tell me about the shooting on (date)”. I responded “do you have a copy of the run report? because I don’t remember really”. She got annoyed and said “you can’t remember a (person gender/age) who was shot? How many shootings have you been on?”
That month I had been on five.
That was four and half years ago, (to be fair I was off the street for 13 months due to injury/training so really it was threeish years) and I started tracking them. I count anyone I took to the hospital or pronounced on the scene. I don’t count people who showed up at a hospital who we then took to the trauma center (not every hospital is able to treat GSW’s or strokes or heart attacks).
In the four years, I noted a decrease each year in the number I was treating. Until the end of 2019. Then it started going back up. Now we are setting records again. What really made the difference in my opinion, but i have no proof, is the removal of the law to have a CCW to carry a pistol concealed.
By going to the so called “Constitutional Carry” law, now more than ever people have pistols on them. After all you don’t need a permit or training or background checks to carry hidden guns.
What this did in my opinion, and somewhat backed up by statements of my patients, is before they would not carry a gun because the police could stop them and check to see if they had a permit. This meant that they left the gun at home or someplace else. So if they got mad, they had to leave the area, go get the gun, come back, track down the person then use it. Most of the time, they calmed down or could not find the person they were mad at.
But now, they carry all the time because the police can not stop them and ask if the gun is legal. So when the get mad, it is right there, often on both people. (and yes, most of the people doing the shooting do not meet the legal standard to own a gun, the gun nuts have that correct, which is why most did not carry all the time, increased risk of going to jail.)
What i’ve also noted is the media coverage has changed. Instead of talking about the person being shot and rushed to the hospital and being in critical condition, they now say things like “non-life threating” or “being treated in the hospital”. Kind of downplaying the injuries. Sure a shattered femur is not life threating if the blood flow is not damaged, but it is very life altering, specially to a basketball player in high school, who suddenly no longer is going to go to collage on scholarship. Or walking with out pain and a limp for the rest of his life.
The comments in the social media have shifted some, they use to be comments about “those people” in the west end who cause all the problems. (yes, implying it is only a black person or poor person issue). But now the shootings happen all over the county, even in mostly white well off area. So what i’m seeing is either “if the victim had had a gun, (or if I was the victim) the shooter would be dead” or “it is the fault of the Mayor who is a democrat that gun violence happens.”
The former is ego with no reality involved. (and many times the victim did have a gun but was unable to use it or did and that is why there were two wounded/killed, but we can’t say anything about that.) The later also has no reality as gun victims are growing all over regardless of party affiliation of a mayor.
The big thing I have noted over the years, is out side four hunting incidents, and several post hunting incidents, only one (1) involved an AR15 or other “assault weapon”. All the rest were pistols. That is the real problem, and the big thing gun safety advocates don’t address. They always focus on assault weapons, magazine size, and “weapons of war”. Never on pistols, underage access, or the problems of easily concealed guns on the street.
I hope my 200th treatment of a GSW won’t happen before I retire in 13 years. But I doubt it if the last month is any indication and an economic downturn heading towards us.