Is a gun like a virus? After mass shootings, doctors target gun violence as a social

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Billybob

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[After mass shootings, doctors target gun violence as a social disease

Is a gun like a virus, a car, tobacco or alcohol? Yes, say public health experts, who in the wake of recent mass shootings are calling for a fresh look at gun violence as a social disease.

What we need, they say, is a public health approach to the problem...

it isn't enough now to tackle gun violence by focusing solely on the people doing the shooting, he and other doctors say...

They want a science-based, pragmatic approach based on the reality of a society saturated with guns...

"Unlike almost all other consumer products, there is no national product safety oversight of firearms...

That's just one aspect of a public health approach. Other elements:

—"Host" factors: What makes someone more likely to shoot, or someone more likely to be a victim. One recent study found firearm owners were more likely than those with no firearms at home to binge drink or to drink and drive, and other research has tied alcohol and gun violence. That suggests that people with driving under the influence convictions should be barred from buying a gun, Wintemute said.

—Product features: Which firearms are most dangerous and why. Manufacturers could be pressured to fix design defects that let guns go off accidentally, and to add technology that allows only the owner of the gun to fire it (many police officers and others are shot with their own weapons). Bans on assault weapons and multiple magazines that allow rapid and repeat firing are other possible steps.

—"Environmental" risk factors: What conditions allow or contribute to shootings. Gun shops must do background checks and refuse to sell firearms to people convicted of felonies or domestic violence misdemeanors, but those convicted of other violent misdemeanors can buy whatever they want. The rules also don't apply to private sales, which one study estimates as 40 percent of the market.

—Disease patterns, observing how a problem spreads. Gun-carrying — a precursor to gun violence — can spread "much like an infectious disease circulates," said Daniel Webster, a health policy expert and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore.

"There's sort of a contagion phenomenon" after a shooting, where people feel they need to have a gun for protection or retaliation...]


http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/ar...olence-as-a-social-disease-3780994.php#page-2
 

Billybob

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Typical propaganda from the Associated Press, disguised as news.

While it might well be propaganda we should recognize the stature and positions of those pushing it.

Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine professor who directs the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis.

one of the nation's leading gun violence experts, Dr. Stephen Hargarten... emergency medicine chief at Froedtert Hospital and director of the Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Dr. David Satcher tried to make gun violence a public health issue when he became CDC director in 1993.
 

sanjuro893

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While it might well be propaganda we should recognize the stature and positions of those pushing it.

Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine professor who directs the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis.

one of the nation's leading gun violence experts, Dr. Stephen Hargarten... emergency medicine chief at Froedtert Hospital and director of the Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Dr. David Satcher tried to make gun violence a public health issue when he became CDC director in 1993.

Why? With the POSSIBLE exception of the Injury Research Center, these are POLITICAL people and organizations that push an agenda named in a way to look like legitimate medical and health research like cancer or M.S. research. When they talk about statistics it's no different than hearing those same stats from the Violence Policy Center. Hell, even THAT sounds like a public health organization and I KNOW it isn't!
 

Billybob

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Why? With the POSSIBLE exception of the Injury Research Center, these are POLITICAL people and organizations that push an agenda named in a way to look like legitimate medical and health research like cancer or M.S. research. When they talk about statistics it's no different than hearing those same stats from the Violence Policy Center. Hell, even THAT sounds like a public health organization and I KNOW it isn't!

Remove your own opinion and consider what percentage of the population would agree with much of the ideas in the article.
How did we get the Laughtonberg Amendment? emo-logic from "experts"?
 

Buddhaman

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My guns have never caused me to binge drink, drink and drive, or go on mass shooting sprees. Mine must be defective.

I have a relatively full liquor cabinet right behind me and my guns never seem to tempt me to pour a shot. I will say that going to the range after a long day is more stress relieving than drinking.
 

Shadowrider

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Remove your own opinion and consider what percentage of the population would agree with much of the ideas in the article.
How did we get the Laughtonberg Amendment? emo-logic from "experts"?

It doesn't matter what percentage of the population would agree with much of the ideas in the article. It's still an incorrect logic.
 

sanjuro893

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The science is faulty. There are contradicting studies that link alcohol to all kinds of factors regardless of gun ownership. And as for people who are apt to believe what they report, I think we're winning that battle. It's all about information. If you put the word out and expose their failed logic or agenda, you give people a chance for themselves to see who's telling the truth. When the Lautenburg amendment passed, people still believed in "cop killer bullets". With the easy access to the info via the web, I think certain anti-gun policies would never have been enacted. I could be wrong, though. I think your concerns are valid about these doctors, but all we can do is educate people by exposing the doctors' falsehoods. That's all I'm trying to say.
 

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