The disturbing headlines seem nonstop: Revenge drive-by shootings. Suicide by gun. Domestic violence murder by a gun. Accidental shooting deaths. The permutations seem as endless as they are tragic. And the numbers are staggering. The most recent annual estimate is that nearly 40,000 people died as a result of firearm use. Of course, beneath these staggering statistics are real lives. Dr. Andrew Sucov shares his up-close-and-personal thoughts gun violence.
Andrew Sucov is an emergency medicine physician in Fall River, Massachusetts.
Some nights I can still hear the sounds. The wails of the ambulance bleeding into the screams of the family. The silence of the paramedics. The noise of the monitors, and then silence. The tears of staff. An 18-year-old-boy, playing Russian Roulette with a gun he thought was empty. Dead.
As an Emergency Doctor, I have seen firsthand the devastation and ruin that gun violence can bring, not only to the individual but also to everyone who is connected in some way. Not surprisingly, for many years I was an outspoken advocate of gun restrictions and buy-backs.
Several years ago, I read the book Hamilton, which was the basis for the hit musical. After reading this, it became clear to me that without access to weapons, the United States would never have broken away from England. Gun rights were placed as the 2nd Amendment to ensure that people could lawfully protest against their government and protect themselves.
Fast forward almost 250 years from our founding, and the lethality of guns is almost overwhelming. About 100 people die every single day from gun violence. Mass shootings generate the most attention, but on average, this is only a single person a day who dies from a mass shooting. The majority of deaths are actually suicides, and the remainder are single incident victims, usually of handguns.
Assault weapon bans may generate a strong emotional response on both sides of the debate, but would have virtually no impact. If we want to address the root issues of gun violence, we need to look beyond simplistic ideas and to the heart of the matter – poverty, drugs, and despair, particularly in urban areas/communities of color; these are the causes, guns the tool.
Several years ago, David Kennedy wrote a book about stopping gun violence and what worked in cities across America, including Providence, Rhode Island. His main argument is that we need to remove the policing focus on drugs and drug-related crime and focus on gun violence; not exclusively, but relentlessly. It worked here, gun deaths dropped about 50%, and I believe it can work again. Those who care about all of our citizens, of all races and economic status, should be able to agree that Don’t Shoot, the title of Mr. Kennedy’s book, is a good starting place to bring some calm to our cities and towns. I believe that addressing issues of mental health, an epidemic that the Covid crisis has only magnified, is an existential crisis for our times.
I never want to hear that silence, those cries, those tears again.
