The Doctor Weighs In

by Pat Salber

I am not going to repeat the gun regulaton rant I published after theVirginia Tech Massacre.  But I do want to pose a question.  Is the status quo approach to guns in the US working for the average American?

The most recent massacre  on a quiet Northern Illinois college campus has a 5:1 ratio of innocent victims to gunner.  Sadly, this ratio could get worse.  There really hasn't been that much press about the other victims - the ones who didn't die, but only had their lives irrevocably changed by a fully armed guy "off meds."

Public health and resultant improved health outcomes have always required trade-offs of "free choice" vs regulation.  That is just the way it is.  If you want fewer people to die from cigarette-related diseases, such as lung cancer, you have to regulate the tobacco industry.  If you want fewer head injuries from motorcycle accidents, you have to mandate helmets. 

Yes, libertarians, you can't do what ever you want if you aren't willing to be responsible for 100% of the consequences - whether it is a nursing home for a head injured cyclist sans helmet or the deaths of young people, at the prime of their lives, shot to death by a mad gunman.

Why a few pounds of steel (and lead ) evoke such passion that it dwarfs the overwhelming evidence that unregulated unfettered access to guns increases the risk of injury and death in a society is beyond me.  But that is not my argument in this post.

Rather, what I want to pose to you is how it must feel to be the father and mother of Daniel Parmenter. 

 Look at his face, look in his eyes.  He apppears to me to be a young man full of hope and excited about his future .

But, now he is dead - shot to death by someone, who bought guns legally. 

This  beautiful young man is dead.  Dead.  His and his families' hopes and dreams were snuffed out in a few minutes by a Glock (purchased legally).

His family is devastated and most likely will never fully recover from their loss - but, the gunman got to buy his guns without limitations,  regulations.

Yes, I know, the newspapers say the killer "went off his meds" - but, ok so do lots of folks with mental illness and other types of illnesses.  But this guy, just like the shooter at Virginia Tech, could act out his delusions/craziness by buying a Glock on-line.  And then he could enter a classro0m and kill 5 young people - innocent victims- before the police could arrive - in this case 2 minutes after the shooting started.

Please do not dismiss this as a gun-control blog.  This is a health care blog.  5 young people are dead.  Many others are still in the hospital - all with a preventable injury:  gunshot wounds. 

Gun regulation is a viable, proven approach to preventable injury.