Boston pediatrician: Families can act first on gun control

[Robb]

Dr. Robert Sege is director of the Division of Family and Child Advocacy at Boston Medical Center and professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. He helped to write the American Academy of Pediatrics policy on firearms and was invited to the White House last week for a briefing on firearms safety.

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Every six days, a child under the age of 15 dies from an unintentional firearm injury, typically at the hands of a friend or a sibling, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Keeping guns out of the reach of children can prevent this. Teen suicide attempts are fatal when there is a gun around; keeping loaded, unlocked guns out of the house prevents suicide. Many teen homicides involve weapons obtained from home, or from the home of a friend. From Columbine to Sandy Hook, many disturbed young killers have used their family’s arsenals.

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As doctors and nurses, we advise parents that they need to keep guns away from children. Their natural curiosity will trump gun safety lectures. Teenagers live passionate, impulsive lives. Parents need to make sure that these inevitable aspects of adolescence don’t lead to tragedy. Teens should not have access to loaded weapons. Plenty of good hard science links teen suicide and homicide to having a gun available – often from home –when passion strikes.

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Firearms are preceded only by automobile crashes in killing kids. Vice President Biden told us that in the six months since Sandy Hook, more than 5,000 Americans have died by firearm. More have died in just these last six months than those who died in Afghanistan, or Iraq. Each of us knows, from the hundreds of conversations we have with families, how firearms and fear limit the lives of so many children. The vice president remains convinced that federal legislation to close loopholes in background checks and limit the sales of assault weapons and high capacity magazines will pass Congress.

I would like to share Mr. Biden’s optimism. “Be patient” one seasoned lobbyist told me while we were milling about after the presentation. “After all, the Brady bill took seven years to pass.”

Read More: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/blogs/white-coat-notes/2013/06/24/boston-pediatrician-families-can-act-first-gun-control/0IspZqmwHoDZz9jgoBRpMN/blog.html