An open letter to the 5754 hospital CEOs in America,
You have been granted a public trust. It's time to commit, publicly.
President Obama has decided that a form of gun control will be on his agenda for the coming year: "The president signaled his support for new limits on high-capacity clips and assault weapons, as well as a desire to close regulatory loopholes affecting gun shows.... [The] opposition shows little signs of fading away."
All I am asking is that you publicly identify yourself with a position on this issue, for or against.
I know that many of you have a tendency to be quiet of matters of legislation when there appears not to be a connection with hospitals. But this is a public health issue. The CDC reports 11,492 homicides from firearms (out of 16,799 total) in a year in its most recent figures (2009), a rate of 3.7 per thousand population. (The total rate of deaths by firearms is about three times this, with suicide being the largest category.)
We need your judgment and thoughtful consideration. We need your convening authority to create opportunities for discussion and debate in your institutions and your communities, to help inform your position. We need you to make your views known to your senators and representatives in Congress.
As Hillel said: "If I am not for myself, who is for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?" Please reach deep and think about how you will feel if this issue is decided without your engagement. You've spent years getting to your current position. For what purpose if not to participate in one of the major issues facing our society?
Here are some excerpts of articles that might help you decide:
A doctor who lists his name as J. Stefan Walker recently posted this comment about limiting the availability of assault weapons on another website:
The Second Amendment settled the issue, but even before that it has been one of the fundamental rights and responsibilities of our free society to live with firearms. America would likely have been conquered by external invaders or internal fascists long ago had it not been for the reality that common citizens have ready access and skill in handling even advanced weaponry; similarly, the right to keep and bear arms insures that citizens will not be mere prey when criminals or others of malevolent or misguided intentions bear arms against the innocent. I do not question the motives of those who feel the answer to tragic gun violence is to restrict guns or types of guns; but I do question the logic, and the legality. The real issues involved in gun-related tragedies center around more responsible handling / ownership of firearms – and in better mental health resources for the public. Free people must accept the harsh realities of violence in the world – and accept the concomitant responsibility to bear arms of at least equal potency at the ready to protect those within our charge. This does not just mean the police and the formal military: simple math proves that approach will never guarantee adequate safety. There is just no way around these realities.
Here is a contrasting view by Leah Hagler Cohen on WBUR's Cognoscenti:
To feel is good.
It is a kind of intelligence. It’s a first response which may spur us — if we don’t hasten to deaden it — to further response: to action.
If the reason this latest event stands out from the rest has less to do with its uniqueness and more to do with the tender age of the majority of those killed, how shall we make use of our emotional response? How shall we let it — our grief — inform us?
I am no policy maker. I have no expertise in violence or gun laws or mental illness or video games or the Second Amendment. I am only a mother. Even that is irrelevant. Would I feel any less if I had no children of my own? We are all in this together.
Here’s what we can do. We can tell our stories and listen to one another. We can educate ourselves about the issues and about who has the power to implement change. We can find creative ways to partake of that power and responsibility. We may even choose to reckon with ourselves — privately and collectively — about the role each of us played in the most recent tragedy, if only through silence and inaction. Others will have more practically useful ideas. I know only this: we start by being willing to feel.
Former hospital CEO Nick Jacobs adds:
Back in the eighties, much of the inpatient mental health system all but vanished in this country, and today behavioral health challenges continue to carry a stigma that is not only tenuous but also very detrimental to the well being of not only those challenged individuals but for all of us. So, yes, behavioral health issues have clearly been a part of each of these attacks. And is that an easy fix? I think not. I believe the stigma associated with mental illness is a huge problem, and even if we seek help, it is many times not available.
Let’s discuss the third rail. As a kid I grew up with guns and target shooting was one of my favorite family pastimes. I can tell you that we never had a problem due to the fact that we owned those guns. They were locked up; they were handled appropriately, and they were used for what they were intended.
However, when you see facts like: There have been 62 gun-related mass murder attacks across this country since 1982, or that approximately 50 million people own about 250,000,000 guns in the U.S., you have to wonder about connectivity to this issue.
The chief medical examiner has said the ammunition was the type designed to break up inside a victim’s body and inflict the maximum amount of damage, tearing apart bone and tissue. So what about gun control? Do I believe that semiautomatic weapons, armor piercing bullets, extended clips, et al., contribute to the ease of access for these mass murderers? Yes, I do. I would love to see controls regarding the above mentioned killing devices, but I do not believe this is the only solution. Should people be permitted to own guns? Yes.
There is no easy solution. I would hate to see our schools and colleges become modified prisons. I would hate to see our lives become self-imposed solitary confinement chambers, but clearly excessive access to kill-type weapons, inadequate access to behavioral health treatment, lack of understanding of drug interactions, and excessive exposure to violence seem to have created the perfect storm.
You have been granted a public trust. It's time to commit, publicly.
President Obama has decided that a form of gun control will be on his agenda for the coming year: "The president signaled his support for new limits on high-capacity clips and assault weapons, as well as a desire to close regulatory loopholes affecting gun shows.... [The] opposition shows little signs of fading away."
All I am asking is that you publicly identify yourself with a position on this issue, for or against.
I know that many of you have a tendency to be quiet of matters of legislation when there appears not to be a connection with hospitals. But this is a public health issue. The CDC reports 11,492 homicides from firearms (out of 16,799 total) in a year in its most recent figures (2009), a rate of 3.7 per thousand population. (The total rate of deaths by firearms is about three times this, with suicide being the largest category.)
We need your judgment and thoughtful consideration. We need your convening authority to create opportunities for discussion and debate in your institutions and your communities, to help inform your position. We need you to make your views known to your senators and representatives in Congress.
As Hillel said: "If I am not for myself, who is for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?" Please reach deep and think about how you will feel if this issue is decided without your engagement. You've spent years getting to your current position. For what purpose if not to participate in one of the major issues facing our society?
Here are some excerpts of articles that might help you decide:
A doctor who lists his name as J. Stefan Walker recently posted this comment about limiting the availability of assault weapons on another website:
The Second Amendment settled the issue, but even before that it has been one of the fundamental rights and responsibilities of our free society to live with firearms. America would likely have been conquered by external invaders or internal fascists long ago had it not been for the reality that common citizens have ready access and skill in handling even advanced weaponry; similarly, the right to keep and bear arms insures that citizens will not be mere prey when criminals or others of malevolent or misguided intentions bear arms against the innocent. I do not question the motives of those who feel the answer to tragic gun violence is to restrict guns or types of guns; but I do question the logic, and the legality. The real issues involved in gun-related tragedies center around more responsible handling / ownership of firearms – and in better mental health resources for the public. Free people must accept the harsh realities of violence in the world – and accept the concomitant responsibility to bear arms of at least equal potency at the ready to protect those within our charge. This does not just mean the police and the formal military: simple math proves that approach will never guarantee adequate safety. There is just no way around these realities.
Here is a contrasting view by Leah Hagler Cohen on WBUR's Cognoscenti:
To feel is good.
It is a kind of intelligence. It’s a first response which may spur us — if we don’t hasten to deaden it — to further response: to action.
If the reason this latest event stands out from the rest has less to do with its uniqueness and more to do with the tender age of the majority of those killed, how shall we make use of our emotional response? How shall we let it — our grief — inform us?
I am no policy maker. I have no expertise in violence or gun laws or mental illness or video games or the Second Amendment. I am only a mother. Even that is irrelevant. Would I feel any less if I had no children of my own? We are all in this together.
Here’s what we can do. We can tell our stories and listen to one another. We can educate ourselves about the issues and about who has the power to implement change. We can find creative ways to partake of that power and responsibility. We may even choose to reckon with ourselves — privately and collectively — about the role each of us played in the most recent tragedy, if only through silence and inaction. Others will have more practically useful ideas. I know only this: we start by being willing to feel.
Former hospital CEO Nick Jacobs adds:
Back in the eighties, much of the inpatient mental health system all but vanished in this country, and today behavioral health challenges continue to carry a stigma that is not only tenuous but also very detrimental to the well being of not only those challenged individuals but for all of us. So, yes, behavioral health issues have clearly been a part of each of these attacks. And is that an easy fix? I think not. I believe the stigma associated with mental illness is a huge problem, and even if we seek help, it is many times not available.
Let’s discuss the third rail. As a kid I grew up with guns and target shooting was one of my favorite family pastimes. I can tell you that we never had a problem due to the fact that we owned those guns. They were locked up; they were handled appropriately, and they were used for what they were intended.
However, when you see facts like: There have been 62 gun-related mass murder attacks across this country since 1982, or that approximately 50 million people own about 250,000,000 guns in the U.S., you have to wonder about connectivity to this issue.
The chief medical examiner has said the ammunition was the type designed to break up inside a victim’s body and inflict the maximum amount of damage, tearing apart bone and tissue. So what about gun control? Do I believe that semiautomatic weapons, armor piercing bullets, extended clips, et al., contribute to the ease of access for these mass murderers? Yes, I do. I would love to see controls regarding the above mentioned killing devices, but I do not believe this is the only solution. Should people be permitted to own guns? Yes.
There is no easy solution. I would hate to see our schools and colleges become modified prisons. I would hate to see our lives become self-imposed solitary confinement chambers, but clearly excessive access to kill-type weapons, inadequate access to behavioral health treatment, lack of understanding of drug interactions, and excessive exposure to violence seem to have created the perfect storm.