‘These deaths are not inevitable’: state gun control laws reduce children’s firearm deaths, study shows | US gun control

It was guns The main cause of death among children Since 2020, a new study showed a clear way to treat this scourge and save children’s lives: the case Control of the weapon laws.

the TicketAnd that was published this month in Jama Pediatrics, reveals that the countries that enacted tougher measures to combat weapons after 2010 McDonald against Chicago Supreme Court Decision – a prominent decision beating ChicagoThe banning of the pistols, in fact, sought the second amendment in the country – witnessed a relative decrease in firearms deaths between children between the ages of 17 years. In contrast, expanded freedoms on weapons freedoms have witnessed a noticeable increase in children’s deaths from firearms, including murder, suicide and papers.

This means that logical weapons policies make a difference when it comes to maintaining the safety of children, said Nick Sulpina, the first vice president of law and policy in the whole city for the safety of weapons. He said: “This study sends a message that legislators refuse to take action or further reduce arms laws putting children’s lives in danger.” “This is a very strong result of academic study.”

To conduct their studies, the researchers divided the countries into three categories – the least easier, and more lenient – based on the strength of their arms control laws. Then they used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to consider the rates of fiery deaths of individual states (deaths caused by armed violence between children between the ages of 0 and 17) over 12 years.

What they found was an amazing degree of overlap between countries based on legislation. In more lenient states, such as Mississippi and New Hampsheer, death rates have increased more than expected, especially among children with color. “[We saw] “Many of the excessive deaths were above what was expected,” said Jeremy Faust, an emergency room and assistant professor at Harvard University Medicine, and the head of the study.

But in countries that have approved tougher laws-such as examination of the background, permits requirements, and safe storage requirements-they remain stagnant rates or declined. That result surprised Faust, who expected that every state would see at least some increase because the number of children who were killed in guns in the United States It has risen sharply over the past decade.

California, New York and Maryland, all of which have a prohibition of weapons and safe storage laws, have witnessed low firearm mortality rates for children. Rod Rod Island, which requires potential weapons, passes the firearms safety cycle to buy a pistol, witnessed a 60 % decrease in arms -related deaths.

“These deaths are not inevitable,” said Share Bhatt, a student of molecular biology in the second year at Harvard University and the study author. “Politics options are important, and we can learn from places that have kept children safer.”

Arms policy experts say this research, which treats weapons as a source of public health, is a source of general health and the impact of book legislation from a scientific perspective is strongly required. “The visions of the medical community are vital to educating policy makers and the public about the need to address the public health crisis that is fueled by the unorganized access to firearms,” ​​said Nick Wilson, chief manager to prevent violence at the American Progress Center. (The White House recently Removed Former surgeon Vivek Mortthi on arms violence as a public health issue, and also and he also has Inverted financing For armed violence research.)

Experts also emphasize the need of legislators to translate knowledge to work. This means giving priority to measures that keep all society safe from armed violence, such as examining the global background, as well as laws that specifically protect children, such as safe storage regulations. “We really need to escalate policy makers.”

Suppbleina added that moving the needle on politics will require reducing the effect of the hall of the gun for profit in the country, which sustains the narration that weapons make society safer-a legend that this study hopes to help wasting it. “The exact opposite is true,” he said. “If more weapons make us safer, the United States will be the most safe country in the world to a large extent. Instead, we have a 25 -time killing in peer countries.”

But the lack of weapons combating legislation does not mean that individuals cannot change their own behaviors to maintain the safety of children. Drin said that parents who own rifles can safely store their fiery weapons and ask other parents whether there are rifles at home before allowing a play affection, as Drin, like the father, may ask whether another family has a fence around the pool. “It should not be a conversation about whether it is good to have firearms or not, but only knowing that there is a plan in force to maintain the safety of children at home is really important.”

However, researchers and experts hope that the political Gulf will cross by focusing on how policies save children’s lives. “We have seen many of the general health successes that were brought up by focusing on the impact of public health threats on children,” Drin said. “I hope this research will help change the minds.”

For Faust, who witnessed that children die from the wounds of fiery bullets directly during training in Queens, New York, the shock center, armed violence epidemic is deeply linked to his work as a doctor.

He said: “I am interested in how the options we make as a society are a tremendous impact on the way we live and die.” “When you save the life of a child, think about the decades of life you return.”