And so it goes on. Within 24 hours in August, at least 20 people were killed in a mass shooting in an El Paso, Texas Walmart and 9 were killed while enjoying themselves on a summer evening in Dayton, Ohio. This broughts to 22 the number of mass killings in the United States in 2019. Will our response be any different this time?
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children aged between 6 and 7 years and 6 adult staff members. Before driving to the school, he shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived at the school, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The shooting prompted renewed debate about gun control in the United States, including proposals for universal background checks, and for laws banning the sale and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic weapons and magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Despite the universal horror expressed, in the end, nothing changed. Instead, we seem to have grown to accept mass killings as the new normal.
Last fall, the National Rifle Association (NRA) condemned doctors who spoke out against gun violence, telling us to “stay in our lane.” Reducing preventable deaths is the main lane for doctors.
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-Edward P Hoffer, MD, FACP, FACC, FACMI
