Editorial: Guns, safety and youth

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Scott Walker, M.D.

By Scott Walker, M.D.

 

We are tired from the division and negativity of a recent election, and disasters around the world have given us all a severe case of “compassion fatigue.”  As much as we are inclined to retreat from public life and controversy, there is an urgent shared value we must address.  Our children are dying from gun violence.  Firearm injuries have become the leading cause of death for children in the U.S.  

As a species, as thinking beings, as compassionate people, as parents of children who are at risk, we must take action.

There are two things that must be done.  Firearms in the home must be secured, and schools must be strengthened.  The first is cheap, but very difficult.  The second is very expensive, and requires public will. Right now, that public will appears to be lacking, perhaps because as Bill Moyers once said, “People don’t seem to care very much about other people’s children.”  I ask my neighbors to understand:  this is not about other people’s children.  This is about us and our children.

What can be done to get gun owners to secure their weapons that hasn’t already been done?  A few things: let’s first use the schools to deliver the message to parents in a non-threatening way.  

The message is simple: lock your guns, when not in use.  Let’s hold an all-school assembly about it, let’s send home a letter from school and community leaders.  Let’s have “gun lock games,” where every adult attendee to a football or basketball game would be given a gun lock for free  (I’m certain the money could be found). 

We can do better, and we owe it to each other’s children to act.

Gun locks will do nothing to prevent school shootings. In order to continue as a community, we need to know that our children are safe while at school. This distinct difference in the goals for our school construction and school operation explain why it must be an expensive transition.  Where we first wanted schools to be comfortable places full of sunlight, we now want them to be safe places, free of sight lines.  The next generation of schools will be different, but we must, for now, use what we have.  How can we best protect our children while they concentrate in vulnerable spaces?  

The essence is to control access to our buildings. We must fortify first floor windows against intrusion, if we can’t make them bullet proof.  Authorized entrances must be attended by dedicated security personnel, metal detectors must be used consistently, and the use of unauthorized entrances should trigger school shutdowns. 

These measures will undoubtedly diminish the aesthetic appeal of our buildings, and the presence of security personnel or local police in the school is completely at odds with an environment of freedom and open inquiry. But the latter are privileged choices our society can no longer afford. First, we have to keep the children alive.

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