I
am a retired surgeon , a registered Republican , a gun owner and a retired Navy Captain . For most of my surgical career , I practiced surgical oncology . For a short time in early 1968 , I functioned as a trauma surgeon in a Vietnamese civilian hospital in the Mekong Delta , treating civilian war casualties during the Tet Offensive .
The amount of tissue damage caused by high-velocity assault weapons is brutal . The combination of muzzle velocity and tumble causes a cavitation effect on entering the human body causing extensive soft tissue , organ and bone damage . 1 The amount of tissue damage caused by AR-15 wounds to the small bodies of children in Uvalde , Nashville and Connecticut , literally made some of these small bodies unrecognizable . 1
The AK-47 , M-16 and AR-15 are weapons of war designed to kill and to maim . The AR-15 is closely related to the M-16 and M-4 carbine rifles , which share the same core design . 2 The essential difference between the AR-15 and the M-16 is the burst fire mode of the M-16 in which several rounds are fired when the trigger is depressed while the AR-15 is semi-automatic in that a single round is fired with each trigger pull . 2
A well-regulated militia , being necessary to the security of a free State , the right of the people to keep and bear arms , shall not be infringed . 3 The Second Amendment to the U . S . Constitution was written in 1791 , when the weaponry consisted of single shot , front loaded pistols , muskets and cannons . That this single sentence , focused on regulating an 18 th century militia , is used to justify allowing an 18-year-old , who cannot buy a beer or rent a car or hotel room , to walk into a gun store to purchase an assault weapon without any degree of oversight , training or background checks is a disturbing example of ideologic insanity .
Assault weapons should be banned from purchase by the public except under the most regulated circumstances . Along with serious background checks , delays between purchase and obtaining a gun , red flag laws , banning bump stocks and high-capacity magazines and increasing the age to 21 : all of these regulations should be in place before a gun can be purchased .
In other first world countries , mass shootings are followed by a common response . Restrictions are imposed on gun ownership , mass shootings become rare , homicides and suicides decrease . 4 A gunman in the UK killed 16 people in 1987 using a semi-automatic
Assault Weapons
by MICHAEL FLYNN , MD
weapon which were then banned . Most handguns were banned after a 1996 school shooting , and now Britain has the lowest gun-related death rates in the developed world .
Canada tightened gun laws after a 1989 mass shooting , Germany in 2002 , New Zealand in 2019 and Norway last year . Australia , a very gun-friendly country , initiated gun buy back after a 1996 massacre , and mass shootings plummeted to one in 26 years .
In the U . S ., there have been more mass shootings in 2023 than days . 5 Our children are being slaughtered in schools which are being turned into armed camps with metal detectors , armed police officers and recommendations that teachers be armed . Gun violence in the U . S . is a huge public health issue . Common sense gun regulations are supported by the majority of U . S . citizens and gun owners . 6 It is time for the U . S . Congress to stand up to the NRA .
References
1 washingtonpost . com / nation / interactive / 2023 / ar-15-damage-to-human-body
2 en . wikipedia . org / wiki / AR-15 _ style _ rifle
3 constitution . congress . gov / constitution / amendment-2
4
Doggett . house . gov / media / in-the-news / new-york-times-other-countries-hadmass-shootings-then-they-changed-their-gun
5 abcnews . go . com / us / mass-shootings-days-2023-database-shows / story ? id-96609874
6 news . uchicago . edu / story / poll-most-americans-see-gun-violence-major-problem-want-stricter-gun-laws
Dr . Flynn is an Emeritus Professor in the University of Louisville Surgery Department .
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