GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

Mickey Skidmore, AMHSW, ACSW, FAASW

Many years ago while serving as the Clinical Director for a large for profit psychiatric hospital in North Carolina I was called to the adult unit to address an issue on one of the adult wards. One of the attending psychiatrists had written the following order in a patient file: “Social Worker to remove all firearms from patients home prior to discharge.”

Last year more than 600 mass shootings occurred in the USA in 2023. If we define “mass shooting” as more than four fatalities, on average such events occur at a current pace of nearly one per day in the US. No other country on the planet has statistics that come anywhere close to this — partly because nearly every other country in the world manages the issue of guns differently  than America. 

What the psychiatrist was speaking to all those years ago is that the research bears out the single most significant thing that can be done to reduce suicides at a practical level is to ensure that firearms and weapons are removed from the home, thereby reducing access to weapons from individuals whose mental state may be temporarily fragile or compromised. I had to point out to the  doctor that writing orders in a patient file that is not feasible to complete will not shield him from potential liability. I noted the best we could do is to facilitate a difficult conversation with the patient and his family (stressing what the research points out) and leave it with them to organise a plan of action that is best for their family.

It is beyond shocking that politicians have avoiding having any meaningful discussions around how to address this uniquely American crisis. Rather, having daily mass shootings has instead become normalised while extending “thoughts and prayers” as the cliched response to such tragedies. Rather, this has become an issue where partisans have become steadfastly entrenched in outdated views that have been enshrined and constitutionally manipulated.

Many Americans bolstered by the NRA tout the second amendment’s right to bear arms as the quintessential and fundamental justification to quash any conversation that may limit or reduce gun ownership. However, now that the NRA has been financially compromised by the corruption of its own previous leadership, perhaps this is an opportune time for this issue to be re-evaluated. 

Despite the extreme views of partisan politicians, the majority of Americans support reasonable and thoughtful limits on gun ownership. It’s hard to imagine how limiting military assault weapons and ammunition would violate the right to bear arms. No one is talking about taking away hunting rifles. While sensible laws with age limits; background checks; and waiting periods impacts those who value immediate gratification, it hardly infringes on the rights spelled out in the second amendment. Moreover, there is successful precedent when this was done during the Clinton administration that resulted in a noteworthy decline of these catastrophes and needless deaths. (Unfortunately, this legislation had a sundowning clause which resulted in a limited time period it was in affect).

Now almost nothing is unthinkable  when it comes to gun violence. At this point any reasonable or logical consideration of this issue seems unable to gain any significant traction in the current political landscape. Rather, the issue gets sucked into cultural wars where distortion, manipulation, convulsion and lunacy resonates with the tyranny of the highly partisan minority. This sad, tragic and unnecessary trend will no doubt continue in the US — until the electorate votes more individuals into office that represent more responsible governing on such issues.