Solutions from Multiple Dimensions for Gun Deaths and Injuries @spockosbrain

Solutions from Multiple Dimensions for Gun Deaths and Injuries

by Spocko

Kentucky lawmakers suggested solution to Tuesday's school shooting in Kentucky? More guns. In schools.

 Kentucky shooting: Gun-toting, non-cop school marshals could avert violence, lawmakers say

We know the attitudes of the people aren't always reflected in the actions of their elected officials. But what action can people take when their elected officials believe the answer to gun violence is more guns in more places?

There are multiple problems with guns. We need multiple solutions. I'm a big believer in multiple strategies in multiple venues carried out by multiple groups at the same time.  We need to think and act in multi-dimensions over time. I see it as playing three dimensional chess with multiple opponents over years.

This week the focus is on school shooting because it's in the headlines. As horrific is they are, mass shootings comprise fewer than 2 percent of gun deaths. In the Trace newsletter they note:
Meanwhile, there is one common denominator in many school shootings and the more numerous gun accidents and suicides that receive little public attention: Kids who pull a trigger, in whatever circumstance, often get the weapon from a parent or other adult who left it unsecured.
Yesterday, Trace staffers Mike Spies and Sean Campbell helped a consortium of public radio stations in the Ohio Valley research a segment on child access prevention laws, which are designed to hold grownups accountable for failing to keep their firearms out of young hands. Research has indicated that the laws, if enforced (a big if), can reduce child gun deaths.
Unsecured guns and kid shooting kids is a huge problem. Especially in Kentucky.  Current unconfirmed reports state that gun used in the Marshell Country High school shooting was taken from the closet of the shooter’s parents.  This shocking story by Marcus Dorsey and John Cheves was in the Lexington Herald Leader July 2017.

 A child shoots himself or another child in Kentucky once every seven weeks

This was a big headline and an important story. What happened after this story came out?
Last winter, disgusted by the shooting of children in his community, state Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, sponsored a “child access prevention” bill in the Kentucky General Assembly. 
Neal’s bill — modeled after similar laws that have passed in 18 states and the District of Columbia, with some success, studies suggest — would have made it a crime to “recklessly” store guns in a manner that lets minors have unintended access to them.
Improper firearm storage would have been a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $250 fine. The charge would have risen to a Class A misdemeanor if a minor subsequently used the gun to hurt or kill someone.
Neal said he’s a gun owner himself, but it’s not asking too much for parents to use either a gun safe or a gun lock to keep their kids from harm.
“The statistics for unintentional shootings are staggering and avoidable,” he said. “Studies show that most children know where parents keep their guns, and many have accessed those guns when their parents were not around or the weapon was unattended or unsecured. This is a problem that cries out for common-sense action to protect our children.”
Neal’s bill died for lack of action in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Why don't these laws pass?  I can site a number of reasons, including the power of the NRA gun lobby, but the Dorsey Cheves story is important beyond the horrible statistics because it describes the attitudes of many people toward guns in their homes.

The story shows how people's behaviors with guns lead to dead and injured children.
“The norm in Kentucky is to keep guns in the home, and a lot of people don’t think it’s abnormal to keep them out around their children,” Dr. Susan Pollack, a pediatrician at Kentucky Children’s Hospital and director of the Pediatric and Adolescent Injury Program at the Kentucky Injury and Prevention Research Center.
In a recent poll, 12 percent of Kentucky parents admitted they keep at least one loaded, unsecured firearm at home with their underage children.
Parents told police they kept loaded guns at home “for safety” and “to protect my family.” The majority stored their guns in their bedroom closets, mistakenly assuming their kids never looked in their closets. In a couple of cases, parents said they usually locked their guns in a cabinet, but they failed to this one time, or else their kids apparently discovered the keys. Otherwise, nobody reported using gun safes or gun locks.
In this environment, given these attitudes, people like Dr. Pollack wonder what can be done. Changing laws can make a difference, but how do you change attitudes? Punishment after the fact? The article points out grieving parents often aren't prosecuted.
According to the Giffords Law Center, 27 states and the District of Columbia have enacted some sort of Child Access Prevention law, though they vary considerably in strength. Kentucky’s is one of the weakest. Parents or guardians in the state are breaking the law only if they provide a firearm directly to a child when they know there is a good chance that the kid will use the gun to commit a crime.

Corbin Wiederholt, 9 months, was fatally shot in the head by his 5-year-old brother, who found his grandfather’s loaded .22-caliber revolver at his home in Elmo, Missouri, on January 19, 2015. When the gun went off, the older boy, who retrieved it from a locked cabinet, said to his mother, 26-year-old Alexis Wiederholt, “I’m sorry, Mom. I shot Corbin.” Wiederholt said she didn’t know her father kept a loaded gun in his home. “I told the boys they weren’t supposed to be in my bedroom where I keep the gun cabinet,” Porter said. “But like I said, boys will be boys.”




I've actually watched the hearings where gun laws are discussed, passed or blocked. It's astonishing to watch the feeble constructs used to oppose some gun laws. Laws that could saves the lives of children.
Now imagine you are in a state like Kentucky, with weak Child Access Prevention Laws. You also live in a state that has passed "super preemption laws" meaning that your local city council is forbidden from passing laws banning guns in city parks and city owned buildings.What other solutions besides the law can you use to protect yourself and others from death and injuries from guns?

1) Work on changing the attitude and behavior change among your friends and family. Get peers to talk to peers.
This guy needs to be on a speaking tour at gun shows, NRA meetings and at gun clubs.

“I’m a redneck,” he said. “I’m a hillbilly. I grew up in southern Kentucky. I’m not anti-guns. I’ve owned guns. But I don’t have guns lying around everywhere. Use common sense! If you’ve got kids in the house, lock up your guns. The gun store where you buy your guns? You can get gun locks there. You can buy a gun safe there. Lock up your guns so another child does not get shot. Why is this so hard for people to understand?”
Gary Hamblin, whose 6-year-old daughter nearly died from an accidental shotgun blast near Greenup this year
2) Look for new tools to secure guns
I want to see progress in smart gun technology, so that they can only fire when activated by an authorized user.  I believe in multiple security layers, gun locks, safes. Here's a new device that provides another layer of security. It alerts parents if kids or others get unauthorized access to guns.

This product was just launched and is available now. The founder, Brady Simpson, went to Virginia Tech. 

People need to understand the world as it is, not how we wish it would be. Kids are curious. I know I used to be one.



No solution perfect, that's why we apply multiple ones. But one thing that science and technology is good at is looking at points of failure in a system and systematically making changes to reduce accidents and catastrophes. I've worked with lots of technology execs and I would ask them how their customers use their products. "Does your product save lives? Yes? Then tell that story. People like that."

 3) Ensure someone pays for the damage caused by guns everywhere laws

When states like Kentucky pass gun preemption laws, local city elected officials can't pass any ordinances banning guns in their community. These laws become an unfunded mandate for the city. The state declares: "There will be more guns carried by people with unknown levels of training in your public venues. You can't pass a law to stop them. Deal with it."

State laws have created an environment where it is legal to carry guns in more places. State law does not require concealed carry gun owners to carry liability insurance to cover the costs of a gun accident. However, municipalities must have liability insurance.

Now imagine you are the risk manager for a city. A whole new level of liability has been forced on you. Suppose someone legally carrying a gun in your building, park, community center, music venue or convention center has an accident and shoots someone else. Are you covered? Are you prepared for the multi-million dollar lawsuits? 

Recent Johns Hopkins study on a average medical costs for a gun shot wound? $275,452 
Who pays? The costs come back to the community. Two thirds of the people treated for gunshots have no insurance or medicaid. Private insurance pays only a fraction of the costs.

If city administrators can't reduce the risk of a gun accident, by banning guns on their properties, they have to reduce their financial risk. 

Elected officials have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the city, the need to be informed and prepared for gun accidents.  Are the laws on the books serving or hurting the local communities? State lawmakers might listen to the officials who are paying the price for these laws.

In the mean time, city officials  in states with super preemption laws need to be asked if they are prepared to deal with the financial impact of guns everywhere laws states passed.  These states include: Arizona, Indianapolis, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Utah.

Looking at a problem from multiple dimensions allows for multiple solutions. Different solutions need people with skills in multiple areas. Not everyone knows how to block or pass laws. Maybe you skill would be to get Gary Hamblin speaking at the NRA convention in Las Vegas. Maybe you can make sure your local community is prepared to manage the financial costs of more gun accidents.  Please don't give up working on this problem. There are lots of people counting on you so they can live long and prosper.