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Abstract
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Mass shootings are reshaping the character of American public life. Whoever we are, they happen to people just like us; they happen in places just like our places. We all sense that we are at risk.
Yet even as we focus on the latest tragedy in Las Vegas, we must remember that these horrific mass shootings have accounted for no more than 1% to 2% of deaths from firearm violence in recent years. The 2 mass shootings with the highest fatality counts in modern U.S. history, in Las Vegas on 1 October 2017 and Orlando on 12 June 2016, resulted in 107 deaths. Yet nationwide in 2016, there was an average of 97 deaths from firearm violence per day: 35 476 altogether (1). In the 10 years ending with 2016, deaths of U.S. civilians from firearm violence exceeded American combat fatalities in World War II.
Calls for action in the wake of Las Vegas have been made not just with profound sadness and outrage but with a here-we-go-again sense of futility. This is entirely appropriate if action by Congress and the White House is being called for—those institutions have abdicated their responsibility on this complex and pressing problem as on so many others.
But there is a critically important and beneficial action that we physicians can take, right now and on our own initiative. Fundamentally, it's quite simple. We need to ask our patients about firearms, counsel them on safe firearm behaviors, and take further action when an imminent hazard is present (2)...
Language: en |