Public Health and Gun Violence - Research Paper Example

Public Health and Gun Violence Introduction Violence is a serious problem throughout human’s history. Every epoch faced serious challenges connected with violence. In the American Society much attention has always been paid to human rights respect and peaceful relations among the society members. The protection of human life has always been the top priority and this was the main reason why we were taught to respect human rights and live in peace, moreover we know the privileges of that ourselves. Thus, the reputation of “violent nation” Americans has had for ages was almost forgotten. Americans want to live in peace very much and many of us do our best to establish this peace, however, the problem still persists: many people regularly become victims of different kinds of violence. Children, women, elderly citizens and even young and strong men are killed, raped and abused, notwithstanding that they live in a democratic society of the 21st century’s America, the most developed country in the world. For some reasons the society of this developed country failed many people that means it was not able to protect them from violence. On December 14th, 2012, the 4th mass incident of gun violence during the last several years took the lives of six adults and twenty children at the elementary school in the town of Newtown, CT. In the aftermath of this tragedy, a tearful President Barack Obama addressed the nation and said “We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law -- no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society…But that can’t be an excuse for inaction”. (Remarks by the President at Sandy Hook Interfaith Prayer Vigil) The public mood for action has resulted in President Obama recently establishing a task force on gun violence (White House task force to tackle gun violence). It has also increased the tenor of the debate between two groups: those who believe that the right to bear arms is a civil liberty supported by the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution versus another group who believe that there should be more laws that regulate the use of firearms. Then there is another group comprised primarily of public policy professionals who have been contributing to the debate with their view that gun violence is a public health issue. The given paper will try to prove that treating gun violence as a public health issue may reduce the incidences of gun violence in the United States. Why violence should be treated as public health issue One of the reasons that gun violence is now being treated as the public health issue is that public health professionals started taking a closer look at the relationship between public health and the deaths and injuries caused by guns. According to Mair, Teret, and Frattaroli (2005), “Public health has a tradition of looking beyond the individuals afflicted with injury or “disease” (p. 40). With this holistic perspective, public health professionals noted that that guns formed the second leading cause of injury death after motor vehicle-related deaths (Mair, Teret & Frattaroli, 2005, p. 40). More importantly, they realized that gun violence involved a variety of issues including sociocultural, educational, behavioral and product safety (Mozafarrian, Hemenway, & Ludwig, 2013, p. 551). Society has failed people who became the victims of violence, however, understanding this fact would not help stop violent acts against people. The problem is especially relevant for health care professionals as many of them now insist on the new approach to the problem of violence as a whole and gun violence in particular. People who deal with health care are eager to respond to the horrible facts of violence. According to the last data the incidents of death, including gun violence, in the United Stated mostly happen due to the cancer, homicide and suicide. Thus, we can see that these problems are closely connected to the healthcare area as many of cases could be prevented if healthcare professionals deal with the problem. Wayne LaPierre states in his speech: “Here’s how I see it: gun violence is a public health issue, and a big one. In the 10 years from 2000 through 2009, more than 298,000 people died from gunshots in the U.S., about 30,000 people a year. If you exclude natural causes of death and consider only deaths caused by injury, it is the second-leading cause of death over that time span; only car accidents (417,000) killed more people” (Gun Violence: The Public Health Issue Politicians Want to Ignore). It is surprising that the problem of violence has not been connected with public health for far too long. We can try to explain it by the fact that the traditional approach to violence always demanded referring to criminal justice system and the problem of violence was considered as a problem of criminal justice, not of the healthcare area. We used to believe that it is only law that can help us to fight with violence. This was our mistake as the struggle needs a complex approach and it touches upon many areas such as the area of education and healthcare. Moreover, the criminal justice system can’t fulfill all the tasks connected with violence as these tasks include not only the punishment of criminals, but also the prevention of violence and the rehabilitation of victims. Criminal justice system simply can’t fulfill all these tasks as its primary obligation is to punish criminals. “Over the years we have tacitly and, I believe, mistakenly agreed that violence was the exclusive province of the police, the courts, and the penal system. To be sure, those agents of public safety and justice have served us well. But when we ask them to concentrate more on the prevention of violence and to provide additional services for victims, we may begin to burden the criminal justice system beyond reason. At that point, the professions of medicine, nursing and the health-related social services must come forward and recognize violence as their issue and one that profoundly affects the public health” (cited in Rosenberg and Fenley, 1991). How treating gun violence as a public health issue may reduce the incidences of gun violence According to Rosenberg and Fenley (1991), since 1985 a considerable progress has been made in the abovementioned direction. Investigations were held and the measures were taken to engage the healthcare professionals into the problem of violence and make them understand that this problem is closely connected to health care area. Healthcare professionals became more engaged in the work with victims of violence and its prevention. Doctors now work with children in schools in order to prevent new cases of violence and the victims of violence are able to get physical and psychological help. In order to understand the problem of violence better and to define the ways healthcare professionals can contribute to violence prevention in, it is important to make national surveillance. “Good national surveillance is one key lesson for us to learn; another is need to understand the violence in its broad context” (Rosenberg and Fenley, 1991). Such injury cases observation can help reveal intentional and unintentional gun violence as well as the reasons of the both. Survey may help reveal the percent of violence cases caused by depression and alcohol. Both of these causes have a direct relation to medicine thus the role of healthcare in violence prevention can’t be disproved anyhow. According to Earls, ”Violent behavior is learned behavior. It is reflected in the brain but is not carried by genes. We have done a good job of changing social norms with respect to child abuse. Now we need to broaden this to include exposure to violence” (cited in Gun Violence: A Public Health Issue). Depression is a serious problem of 21st century, a new “black death” that kills a lot of people, but it is surprising and awful that it has not still been paid enough attention to. Certainly, when a person commits gun violence because he/she is in a deep depression, he automatically becomes an enemy of the nation and of course nobody, except his own mother, would try to excuse him. We even do not think that he is not the only man in the world, whose depression may lead to the violent behavior. It is obvious that regularly held surveillance, special research and interventions would help healthcare specialists to reveal the people with depression and provide them with corresponding help. This can prevent many cases of violence. Alcohol dependence becomes the reason of violence even more often. Here we can already trace the helplessness of criminal justice system that usually does not deal with this problem, it deals only with its consequences and this fact is really upsetting. Alcohol dependence is the reason of awful violence and of many cases of gun violence as of the most contemporary type of violence. However, alcohol dependence is proved to be a disease that should be cured. Here we see again the close connection of violence and healthcare and see that the interventions of healthcare professionals can really prevent violence. Speaking about depression and alcohol dependence as the reasons of violence in general and gun violence in particular, we can’t but mention that these problems affect our children seriously. Recent awful cases of gun violence resulted in the death of children caused by their classmates who brought a gun from home to the classroom and shot their friends. “It’s happened again. Once again a deranged man has walked into an American school armed with powerful semi-automatic weapons and left a trail of death and heartache in his wake. The shooting at Sandy Hook School was the second-worst mass shooting in U.S. history but the fact that 20 of the victims were 6- and 7-year-old first-graders has shocked us profoundly, moving a nation and its president to tears. So how did we get here? And what comes next?”( Gun Violence: How Research on an American Health Crisis Has Been Suppressed). These cases are beyond discussion, the situation should be urgently monitored and it is obvious that criminal justice system is helpless here. Healthcare specialists should make research in schools and families to reveal problems and prevent future shooting. Children with depression should be revealed and provided with necessary help and this should be the top priority for now. Cancer is also a serious problem that should be also paid attention to in order to reduce violence. If a person knows that he/she will die soon, his behavior can’t be predicted. Many seek people commit suicides as they do not want to suffer and to be burdens for their relatives. The decision to commit suicide is very difficult to be made and this violence could be prevented if a person is provided with necessary help on time. It is awful that many of doomed people do not receive corresponding physical and psychological help and their relatives have to bear the full brunt. This help should be provided by special health departments or straight in hospitals. Another problem is that doomed people usually decide to do “the last thing in their life” that can include revenge, etc. These cases also can be monitored if a healthcare specialist is near with his help. Many cases of violence will be prevented if such assistance is provided. Speaking about the engagement of the healthcare professionals into the problem of violence we can’t but mention the role of health departments. The main tasks of healthcare departments are: to help start treating violence as a public health issue; to hold necessary expertise and research on the issue; to educate people including not only children in school, but also adults, politicians and mass media; build intervention strategy; maintain the interest to the issue and stimulus for further research. “Public health measures like registration, inspection, and mandatory education -- treating guns like cars -- would work if enough gun owners supported them. But here a weak point in the proposal appears. The media are supposed to cooperate in portraying gun violence as a sign of "weakness, irrationality, and cowardice," by analogy with smoking” (On the Public-Health Approach to Gun Violence). The most serious problem is that health departments do not have enough financing to exist. Financing is the task of politicians but they can help only if they are informed about the issue and it is the task of health departments to educate them: “It is important for the federal government to provide leadership, but it is essential that we not wait for the federal government to develop a program” (Rosenberg and Fenley, 1991). Conclusion Healthcare and violence has not been considered as interconnected for far too long and this was a big and serious mistake that should be corrected. Previously, we tended to relate the problem of violence only to criminal justice system, considering the fighting with violence to be only their task. However, as a result, we had the increased number of cases of violent behavior. This testifies that the previous approach was wrong and it is necessary to look for another way out. In this paper we researched the issues of healthcare, which are related to violence. We revealed that the main causes of death in the United States are cancer, homicide and suicide, which in their turn are very often caused by depression and alcohol dependence. Alcohol dependence and depression are serious diseases that should be cured both on the physical and mental levels. Our children should be provided with urgent medical help. It does not mean we should prescribe them diseases they do not have, but still for any case medical and psychological help should be provided every day. Special classes and unobtrusive medical inspection should be held to prevent new gun violence cases. Shooting in schools should not repeat, and healthcare professionals should help prevent it. Psychological help provided on time can save the lives of many people, the lives of our children we should take care of first of all. The main task of the government should be not only to resist the gun violence but also to pay attention to the fact that healthcare and the problem of gun violence are interconnected. It is essential to provide the needed financing, so that health departments may work efficiently, thus many incidents would be prevented. Health is the most important issue for every human being, so it is possible to admit that everything is connected with health. Only the state where the people are healthy can live in peace as we see that problems with health become a reason of violence very often. It is important for healthcare professionals to understand their responsibility and the fact that they should not wait for a help, they should provide this help and the health of citizens should be the top priority. References Mair, J.S., Teret, S., Frattaroli, S. (2005). A Public Health Perspective on Gun Violence Prevention. In T.D. Lytton (Ed.), Suing the Gun Industry: A Battle at the Crossroads of Gun Control and Mass Torts (pp. 39-61). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Mozafarrian, D., Hemenway, D., & Ludwig, D.S. (2013, February 13). Curbing gun violence: Lessons from public health successes. Journal of the American Medical Association, 309 (6), 551-552. Webster,D.W., Vernick,J.S., Vittes, K., McGinty,E.E., Teret, S.P., Frattaroli, S. (2012, October). The case for gun policy reforms in America. John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. 1-19 Picard-Fritsche, S., Cerniglia, L. (2010). Testing a public health approach to gun violence: An evaluation of Crown Heights: A replication of the cure violence model. Center for Court Innovation. 1-42 Peters, R. (2013). Rational Firearm Regulation: Evidence-based Gun Laws in Australia. In D. W. Webster, & J. S. Vernick (Eds). Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. (pp. 195-204). Baltimore, MD. The John Hopkins University Press. On the Public-Health Approach to Gun Violence. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/on-the-public-health-approach-to-gun-violence/266965/ LaPierre, Wayne. (n.d.). Gun Violence: The Public Health Issue Politicians Want to Ignore. Retrieved March 4 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/robwaters/2012/07/24/gun-violence-the-public-health-issue-politicians-want-to-ignore/ Remarks by the President at Sandy Hook Interfaith Prayer Vigil. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/12/16/remarks-president-sandy-hook-interfaith-prayer-vigil White House task force to tackle gun violence. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-gun-control-task-force-20121219,0,2583500.story Gun Violence Is a Public Health Crisis. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heidi-roman/gun-violence-public-health-crisis_b_2732732.html Gun Violence: A Public Health Issue. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/01/gun-violence-and-public-health Gun Violence: How Research on an American Health Crisis Has Been Suppressed. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml Read More