Gun Violence

At PSR-LA, we are working to raise awareness of the public health danger of gun violence. We are presenting information on gun violence to other physicians at hospitals, as well as training our own physicians to be effective advocates for gun safety. We are also speaking to our community about gun safety issues.

Gun Violence: an avoidable public health problem

As physicians and concerned citizens, we support stricter gun control laws in the United States. We see too many patients suffer from devastating gunshot injuries or premature death, and we believe that reducing the number of firearms in this country will lead to fewer firearm-related casualties.

A country without handguns: an unattainable fantasy?

It seems like an impossible goal, to get rid of our handguns. However, virtually every other industrialized country in the world has tighter gun control laws than the United States. Great Britain, for example, banned all handguns in 1997 when 16 children and their teacher were killed in a primary school gun massacre in Dublane, Scotland. The county's gun-related offenses fell by 21% following ban.

⁽¹⁾ Meanwhile, in the United States, approximately 5,000 children under 15 years of age are killed every year in America due to guns (not to mention the many more children who are permanently disabled).⁽²⁾ Unfortunately, our gun culture and the powerful gun lobby has not permitted our government to invoke tougher gun laws.

In the populous country of Japan, the number of children killed by guns hovers at around ZERO. In fact, our 5,000 children killed every year number more than all of the child gun-related deaths of all the industrial nations combined .⁽³⁾ Many children are killed due to accidental discharges while playing with guns that improperly locked or stowed. Children by age 2 are strong enough to pull the trigger of a gun, and by age 9 are still unable to determine a real gun from a toy gun.⁽⁴⁾

We need to have guns for self-protection, right?

Do you feel safer with a gun in the house? When you bring a gun into your home, you dramatically increase the risk of someone you love being injured by that gun. Research has shown that with each 1,000 gunshot victims that come to our hospitals, less than two victims are actually using a gun for self-defense at the time.⁽⁵⁾  The majority of gunshots are due to suicide, homicide (due to escalated arguments between loved ones), and accidental firings than to self defense. In fact, more guns are fired in the United States in the act of suicide than for any other reason.⁽⁶⁾ To put simply: suicides, homicides (due to arguments), and accidental firings would be much less likely if the gun were not in the house in the first place.

"Don't blame the guns. Guns don't kill people; people kill people."

As Dr. Linda Erwin, a Portland trauma surgeon, says, "Yes, people kill people, but here's a news flash: the gun helps!" Quite an obvious statement, right? Yet, we don't often remember that the presence of a gun in any situation makes the situation more dangerous, not safer. In Australia, where gun control laws are strict, people are 5 times less likely to die from a gunshot than an American.⁽⁷⁾ It is not that people in Australia get into less fights or assaults. Bar fights happen just as often in Australia as they do in the United States. However, with an increased likelihood of a gun being involved in the fight, a person is five times more likely to die as a result of the fight in the United States than in Australia. It is much more difficult to stab or beat someone to death compared to firing a handgun

Steps you can take

If you are a parent, please lock your gun and store it in a hidden, secure place, with the bullets stored in a separate location. Better yet, think twice about bringing a gun into your home. If you are a physician, take time to ask your patients about proper storage of guns in the house, and warn them about the increased risk of personal firearm injury with the purchase of a firearm. This is an especially important question to ask if children are present at the home, or if there are indications of depression in your patient.

Get Involved

PSR-LA brings physician speakers to local clinics and hospitals to provide real tools for clinicians to help patients defuse potential violent incidents. For more information on this important program, please contact Jonathan Parfrey. PSR-LA also supports firearm legislation that specifically supports preventive life-saving measures.

Violence Prevention Fact Sheets (PDF)

Firearms and Suicide (2 pgs)	Violence Prevention Fact Sheet No. 1 - Firearms and Suicide Why is firearm suicide a public health issue? America is facing a firearm suicide epidemic. More than half of all gun deaths in the United States are the result of a suicide (58%), followed by homicide (38%), and unintentional deaths (3%).1 It surprises many to find that a firearm is more likely to be used to commit a suicide than a homicide. Such a realization counters our society’s misperception that most gun deaths are a result of “stranger danger” criminal attacks.
Economic Impact of Firearms (1 pg)	Violence Prevention Fact Sheet No. 2 - Economic Impact of Firearms Injuries and deaths attributable to gun violence have enormous economic implications for the United States. Deaths and injuries inflicted by firearms cost the United States about $100 billion every year, including hospitalization, other medical costs, and lost productivity. Often these costs must be paid for with public tax dollars. Far worse, nearly one-fifth of urban trauma centers had to shut down between 1986 and 1991 because of the immense costs associated with caring for gun violence patients.
Assault Weapons: The Ban and Its Effects (1 pg)	Violence Prevention Fact Sheet No. 3 - Assault Weapons: The Ban and Its Effects Representing health care professionals, PSR believes that the Assault Weapons Ban protects the health and wellbeing of the American people, and that its defeat will increase the incidence and severity of firearm-related injuries.
Adobe PDF Reader (PDF-Portable Document Format)

Special recognition to Dr. Linda Erwin , a trauma surgeon and PSR physician at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon who has lectured tirelessly for the recognition of gun violence as a public health problem that needs to be addressed by the health professional community.

Also, special thanks to Impact Visuals, a  non-profit organization dedicated to creating social change through photographic images. Please contact Impact Visuals for permission to use any photos on this page.

References:

1. UK Home Office, Criminal Statistics England & Wales, 1998; 3.10. Mar 2000


2. McDowall, D., & Wiersema, B. The Incidence of Defensive Firearm Use by U.S. Crime Victims, 1987-1990. American Journal of Public Health, Volume 84, Number 12, pages 1982-1984 (1994).


3. Centers for Disease Control an Prevention. Rates of homicide, suicide, and firearm-related death among childrenB26 industrialized countries. MMWR Vol. 46, No. 5. February 7, 1997:101-105.


4. Personal communication, L. Erwin


5. McDowall, D., & Wiersema, B. The Incidence of Defensive Firearm Use by U.S. Crime Victims, 1987-1990. American Journal of Public Health, Volume 84, Number 12, pages 1982-1984 (1994).


6. Hemenway, D. Survey Research and Self-Defense Gun Use: An Explanation of Extreme Overestimates. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Volume 87, Number 4, pages 1430-1445 (1997).


7. Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, 2 Jun 1999
   

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