Local Opinion: Children still at risk from guns

In 1974, I wrote a paper titled “Gunshot Wounds in Children” after noting an increase in the number of children being admitted to Detroit General Hospital with this diagnosis. The majority of all trauma cases in the city of Detroit were admitted there and handled jointly by the surgery and pediatric departments.

I was the director of pediatrics at the hospital and wanted to verify that this increase in gun injuries had indeed occurred. Working with two medical students, whose names are listed as co-authors, we were able to chart review 80 cases and home interview 60. Thirty-one of the interviewed children had previous accidents requiring medical attention.

The shooter was most frequently a child who had never shot a gun before. Example: A 4-year-old boy playing with an accessible and loaded 38-caliber handgun shot his 3-year-old brother in the head. He told the doctor, “I would never do that to my brother again.” (Yes, doctors do sometimes leave the room to cry.)

Let me share my personal gun background. Growing up I never saw a gun except in the movies. Once at a family picnic in the country the children were allowed to shoot at a decrepit falling-down farm building. Each boy shot and we could all hear the bullets hit the barn. “C’mon, Marilyn, let’s see how you do!” I gingerly took the pistol, aimed, and pulled the trigger. No ping. I am forever labeled as the lady who could not hit the side of a barn!

My late husband liked to hunt with our beloved Brittany spaniels. He was a fanatic about gun safety, and our children were brought up with strict gun safety rules. I had no interest in guns or shooting.

Because my husband was very concerned about gun safety, years ago when the National Rifle Association was pushing gun safety instead of freedom to buy guns, I gave him a subscription to their magazine for his birthday. My feelings about the gun lobby now? Those words are not printable.

Mass shootings in schools are a uniquely American disgrace. Selling automatic rifles to anyone is selling death. Entering a school with intent to kill children is sick. And deadly. If a perpetrator entered a school with a baseball bat there would not be a carnage like the one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers lost their lives.

I have read and believe that there are more gun stores in the U.S. than there are McDonald’s. We live in a country with more guns than people, and the estimated number of firearms per 100 people is 120.5. BBC news provides us with information about firearm deaths describing us thusly, “Firearm deaths are a fixture in American life.” However, 60% of us do favor stricter gun laws.

I am not a fanatic about guns and know guns can be safely stored in a home with children. Sadly, there are still many young children whose parents do not lock up guns. These children are living in a dangerous home with thoughtless parents.

How can we prevent guns from being sold to disturbed people? What can be done to prevent mass shootings? How can we prevent another school massacre? How can we help school children from being afraid to go to school?

Is it possible that gun sales will win, and our children will forever remain in danger? Will another living child with a life ahead lose a future to a metal killing object?

My hope/dream is that pediatricians and parents will help lead the way to gun safety and sanity. The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Moira Szilagyi, recently appeared before a Senate committee that was discussing the need to protect our children from guns and gun violence.

In preparation for this, over 300 pediatricians sent letters dealing with “the impact of gun violence on children, families, and communities” to Dr. Szilagyi. I read them all online. No tears this time. Just furious anger that what happened in Detroit in 1974 is still going on.

Parents, pediatricians and everyone who cares about our country, join me in my anger and do all you can to keep guns and children apart!