A SECOND OPINION
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Gun Violence a Public Health Problem and an Ideologic Nightmare
by Michael Flynn, MD
While gun deaths in the U. S. have decreased somewhat in the last two years, our gun deaths remain the highest annual total on record. 1 Forty-seven thousand people died of gun deaths in the U. S. in 2023. Gun deaths in the U. S. are much higher than in other developed / first world countries. U. S. gun deaths at 10.6 per 100,000 people compare to Canada( 2.1 per 100,000), Australia( 1.0 per 100,000) and European nations such as France( 0.14), Germany( 0.9) and Spain( 0.6).
While school and mass shootings are the most disturbing, suicides remain the most frequent cause of death by gun. 1 Suicide by gun is a very efficient way to commit suicide. The most frequent cause of death for children and teens( ages 1-19) in the U. S. today is firearm injuries. 2
One of the main issues resulting in the high rate of gun deaths and gun violence is the existence of a minimally regulated gun industry. In 2005, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act( PLCAA), 3 a law which gives the gun industry exceptional immunity from most civil liability, protecting irresponsible gun companies that are responsible for most of the guns used in crimes.
Another consequence of the essentially unregulated U. S. gun industry and lax or absent gun control laws in many states is the“ Iron River of Weapons” transiting the U. S. to Mexico, Central America and Haiti. 4 These mostly assault weapons( AR-15 and AK-47) allow the cartels to form para-military forces making it difficult and dangerous for law enforcement in those countries to address their drug smuggling
activities. Most of the gun trafficking to Mexico comes from towns in Texas and Arizona near the border.
Kentucky does not require any state permit for either open or concealed handguns for individuals 21 and older who are legally allowed to possess a firearm. 5 Local Kentucky governments( where most gun violence occurs) cannot pass ordinances to regulate firearms. The Kentucky legislature, in its ideologic wisdom, has given the state exclusive authority over firearms laws. In April 2023, the absence of any sensible firearm regulations allowed a young man with active mental health issues, including depression with a previous suicide attempt, to enter a Louisville gun store and purchase an assault weapon and a lot of ammunition. On April 10, he entered the Old National Bank and killed five people, injuring eight, before police fatally shot him. 6
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to bear arms, shall not be infringed. The Second Amendment to the Constitution was ratified as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791. The weaponry available at that time were front loaded, single shot muskets, pistols and cannons. The damage that the modern assault weapon( AR-15 / AK-47) can do to the human body is brutal. The high velocity missile causes a cavitation effect entering the human body. The damage to the small bodies of children slaughtered in shootings in Uvalde, Nashville and Sandy Hook made some of them unrecognizable. In 2008, the Supreme Court, in its wisdom, decided that the Second Amendment, after over 200 years, was no longer about the militia, effectively making the Washington, D. C. gun laws unconstitutional. 7
32 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE OPINION