Pediatricians Take on the NRA Over Gun Safety

[SecularMotion]

For the past three decades, the American Academy of Pediatrics—some 62,000 members strong—has been an outspoken voice on the issue of gun control, a position that has landed it on the NRA’s (admittedly very long) list of enemies. In 1992, the AAP issued its first policy statement supporting a handgun and assault weapons ban, making it the first public health organization to do so, and it has long recommended that doctors talk about gun safety with parents. Since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, the AAP has stepped up attempts to educate parents about gun safety around children.

But as the fight over gun rights grows ever more virulent at the national level, the AAP and individual doctors have quietly begun to take a softer stance on the issue, turning their focus to peddling realistic policies rather than clinging to a hard-and-fast no-guns line.

On a recent Sunday in April, 70 doctors and scientists associated with the AAP filed into a convention center in Vancouver to discuss firearm injury prevention. Presenters clicked through PowerPoint slides highlighting topics such as risk factors for gun injuries, popular gun-safety myths, and stats on suicide and homicide due to guns in the home. “The issue of guns really follows directly from all the concerns we have about injuries in general. This is one kind of injury that endangers the health and life of kids,” said Dr. Robert Sege, a Boston Medical Center pediatrician, who gave a presentation on how to talk about guns with parents.

The AAP’s outgoing president, Thomas McInerny—who made the Sandy Hook massacre a call to action for gun safety during his one-year post—sat in the audience. While the AAP has been advocating for an end to gun violence for some 30 years now, the shooting in Newtown shocked the nation and galvanized the AAP’s doctors to redouble their efforts in support of new gun-control measures. Newtown pediatrician Laura Nowacki lost eight of her patients in the massacre at Sandy Hook. “I’ve never spoken to the media until all of this happened. But I really believe I have to stand up. I have to use my voice,” she told the AAP News in June.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/15/pediatricians-take-on-the-nra-over-gun-safety.html

[hack89]

1. It is good that the AAP has accepted reality and given up their gun banning fantasies

Perhaps now they can contribute in a meaningful way to gun safety.

[blueridge3210]

2. Sounds like education over banning is a more realistic approach.

"For the past three decades, the American Academy of Pediatrics—some 62,000 members strong—has been an outspoken voice on the issue of gun control, a position that has landed it on the NRA’s (admittedly very long) list of enemies."

Could you supply this "list of enemies". Was there something you wished to discuss?

[Eleanors38]

3. That the AAP has given up gun bans is a good thing...

Perhaps the association can get together with pro-2A organizations which are ALREADY working to improve gun safety in the home.

[clffrdjk]

4. stats on suicide and homicide due to guns in the home.

I would really like to see the proof supporting the idea that the gun caused the suicide/homicide.

[Straw Man]

5. Misleading headline.

Actually, in favoring education over bans, they're more likely to find themselves on the same side of the table as the NRA. I think the NRA's education efforts have shown real fruit. I have noticed that younger people in the shooting sports are showing more safety awareness than the older folks, who have a lifetime of bad habits and complacency to overcome.

The AAP has come to realize how much egg they had on their faces when they opposed the "Eddie the Eagle" program on the grounds that it legitimized gun ownership. Ideological purity should never trump pragmatism.

Did it strike anyone else as odd that the stats they cite are for deaths of those under 25? Do 20-somethings go to pediatricians for their health care these days?

[ManiacJoe]

6. Typical ways to boost the numbers.

Did it strike anyone else as odd that the stats they cite are for deaths of those under 25?

The adults in the 18-25 group are a large segment of the criminal/gang groups.