Gun Violence Prevention - American Academy of Pediactrics (AAP)

[billh58]

The AAP has been involved for decades in advocacy efforts to address the detrimental effects of gun violence in children’s lives as a public health issue. The AAP continues to engage in a sustained advocacy effort focused on engaging Congress, the White House, partner organizations, pediatricians, and the public in an effort to enact and improve federal policies aimed at reducing and preventing gun violence.

AAP’s top priorities in federal gun violence prevention advocacy are:

•Stronger gun laws. Enactment of common-sense firearm legislation, including stronger background checks, banning assault weapons, addressing firearm trafficking, and encouraging safe firearm storage.

•Violence prevention programs. Support for programs addressing the needs of at-risk children and children exposed to violence, including those at CDC and DOJ.

•Research. Funding for gun violence prevention research and public health surveillance, including $10 million to support gun violence prevention research at CDC, and expanding the National Violent Death Reporting System to all 50 states.

•Physician counseling. Protecting the crucial role of physicians in providing anticipatory guidance to patients about the health hazards of firearms.

•Mental Health Access. Ensuring children and their families have access to appropriate mental health services, particularly to address the effects of exposure to violence.

https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/federal-advocacy/Pages/AAPFederalGunViolencePreventionRecommendationstoWhiteHouse.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR:+No+local+token

Of course Second Amendment absolutists and NRA/ILA/GOA apologists will scream that none of these things will prevent gun violence, and the real answer is to arm ALL Americans (the "good guy with a gun" theory). This approach, of course, is aimed not at the prevention of gun violence and deaths, but rather at generating obscene profits from an increase in gun violence and deaths.

Health professionals and most thinking Americans see the epidemic of gun violence that plagues this nation on a daily basis in the news, and frequently very close to home. It is past time that we, as concerned citizens, take action to make our elected representatives stand up to the greed-driven gun lobby and say "enough is enough!"

[guillaumeb]

1. What I have noticed is that gun fundamentalists,

or "gundamentalists" if you will, never talk about the massive profits that are the result of this gun obsession by a fraction of the US citizenry.

The irony is that the arms manufacturers are using these people to increase their profits at the expense of the very people that the guns are claimed to protect.

[deathrind]

2. I would.

Amend the first item. Instead of "encourage" safe firearm storage make it mandatory.

While it is tragic it is not a "tragic" accident when a child gets a hold of a firearm and kills themselves or another. It is negligence on the owner of that firearm for not having the firearm safely stored.