is gun control a public health issue

Is Gun Control a Public Health Issue?

Cian O’Brien BSc, RGN, NQEMT

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Overview •  Gun Control: The HoIest Debate in America •  What is Gun Control? •  Burden of Gun Violence •  Why Gun Control is a Public Health Issue? •  Gun Violence is Preventable •  America’s Public Health Response to Gun Violence

•  How Australia stepped off ‘The American Path’ •  An Overview of Centers for Disease Control •  How organizaWons decide what to focus their efforts on

Gun Control: The HoIest Debate in America

•  Gun control is one of the most controversial debates in America.

•  While President Obama seeks to

clamp down on gun violence using Wghter gun control laws, the NaWonal Rifle AssociaWon (NRA) and gun advocates fight for the rights of gun owners

What is Gun Control?

•  Reducing lives lost to gun violence is a public health issue about a major mechanism of fatal injury, not a Second Amendment to the US ConsWtuWon issue about “the right of the people to keep and bear arms”.

•  Gun control is based on the interpretaWon of the US ConsWtuWons 2nd Amendment •  Some say that the amendment gives the right to

own and carry weapons whenever and where ever they choose

•  Others say that it does not give that right completely and some controls are important

Burden of Gun Violence

•  In the United States, gun violence is a major public health problem and a leading cause of premature death.

•  Guns have the potenWal to greatly increase violence as they can inflict serious – oden fatal – injuries on many individuals.

•  Gun violence cost the US $155 billion annually (WHO, 2013).

Why is Gun Control a Public Health Issue?

Gun Violence is Preventable

•  A public health approach to prevenWng gun violence recognizes that violence is contagious and can become epidemic within a society (Christoffel, 2007 & InsWtute of Medicine and NaWonal Research, 2012)

•  Primary prevenWon involves the use of core public health acWviWes to interrupt the transmission of violence

Surveillance IdenWfy Risk Factors

Developing, ImplemenWng &

EvaluaWng IntervenWons

InsWtuWonalizing Successful PrevenWon Strategies

America’s Public Health Response to Gun Violence

Availability of Dangerous Firearms & AmmuniWon

School Safety Mental Health

Law Enforcement

How does an organisaWon decide what to focus its efforts on?

The Role of Research in Addressing the Public Health Problem of Gun Violence •  Data from the Centres for Disease Control and PrevenWon, over the past 20 years

–  deaths from car crashes has decreased by 31%, –  deaths from fires has decreased by 38% –  deaths from drowning has decreased by 52% (Rivara et al., 2013)

•  These reducWons have come about from translaWng research findings into effecWve intervenWon efforts.

•  In contrast, from 1985 – 2010, the total number of gun deaths in the USA has gone up and down, but ulWmately finished right about where it started at about 31,500 per annum (Chalabi, 2013) –  The crucial difference has been a lack of research & innovaWon in addressing

this problem

Centres for Disease Control (CDC)

•  The CDC works 24/7 keeping America safe from health, safety and security threats, both domesWc and foreign.

•  Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate aIack, CDC fights disease and supports communiWes and ciWzens to do the same

•  CDC is the naWon’s health protecWon agency – saving lives, protecWng people from health threats and saving money through prevenWon

How does the CDC decide how to spend $6.6 billion?

The Scope for PrevenWng Gun Violence

•  Will gun control be effecWve in reducing deaths and disability?

•  A higher number of firearm laws in a state are associated with a lower rate of firearm fataliWes in the state (Fleegler et al., 2013)

How Australia stepped off ‘The American Path’

•  April 1996, 35 people were killed in Port Arthur by a single assailant with an assault weapon.

•  Enforcement of strict gun control policy lead to •  Rate of homicide has decreased 7.5%

since 1996 •  Suicide by firearm has declined from

3.4 to 1.3/100,000 •  No further gun massacres in the

Australia (16 in years preceding 1996)

•  Private gun owners sWll own guns in Australia – they have not lost their ‘ right’ to bear arms as a result of stricter gun control

Future consequences of failing to act?

Feasibility of EnacWng Gun Control Law

“There is no act of Parliament, no act of Congress, that can guarantee there’ll never be a massacre. However, the more you Wghten laws, the more you reduce the risk” Former BriWsh Cabinet minister Jack Straw.

Preparedness 101 Zombie Apocalypse

Summary •  Gun control is one of America’s most controversial debates. It is based on

the interpretaWon of the 2nd amendment. •  Gun violence is a major public health problem. Primary prevenWon

involves the use of core public health acWviWes to interrupt the transmission

•  Surveillance •  IdenWfy Risk Factors •  Developing, ImplemenWng & EvaluaWng IntervenWons •  InsWtuWonalizing Successful PrevenWon Strategies

•  America’s Public Health Response to Gun Violence •  Increasing law enforcement presence •  School safety programs focusing on gun violence •  Decreasing the availability of dangerous firearms

•  How Australia stepped off ‘The American Path’ •  The Scope for PrevenWng Gun Violence •  Future consequences of failing to act? •  Feasibility of EnacWng Gun Control Law

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is gun control a public health issue

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