Guns are Dumb
Today my kid had his first ever school presentation on “lockdowns”, and last week they talked about what to do if “an animal like a bear” is at the door. Given my position as a bit of a leader in public health, I feel a responsibility to comment on this when I can.
If you have a gun, get rid of it.
If you run programs that involve guns, stop them.
When enough people say it’s not cool to have guns, political pressure will cause law changes that result in less guns and less kids killed. Like the tide change on same sex marriage over the last 10 years. I am here to tell you, with peer pressure, that guns are dumb (just like vaccines are good, and brushing twice a day is good).
Guns are not for food, recreation, sport, teaching history, home safety, or carrying in public to stop others with guns. Humans are smart enough to do those things even better without guns. And statistically the most likely person to get hurt with a gun in the home is your own family or friends (even with a gun safe). It is true that guns don’t kill without a person, but that doesn’t mean just focus on the person — focus on mental health AND get rid of guns. The U.S. has like 50 times as many school shootings as all other developed countries combined.
For poc (people of color like me), guns in the hands of police are not even for our protection. We are just as likely to be at the wrong end. See recent DFW area news. And black on black crime may have decreased in NYC but is still big in Chitown.
By my decision, my Scout programs use no guns. That goes counter to most of Scouting, including Philmont, but I just don’t see a point in putting guns in kids’ hands. There are plenty of other programs one can do instead. Same with the Sikh fundamental notion of carrying a knife for protection. Sikhs carrying swords and Americans carrying guns have a similar foundation, because both America and Sikhism started with wars, a right to bear arms (the only reason Sikhs carry knives and not guns is because guns didn’t exist when it was founded). Those wars are done. It’s time to leave that violent history behind. Scouts need no guns and Sikhs need no knives. There is no romance in Boy Scouts with Daisy BB guns, gangster kids glorifying guns in rap music, Sikhs preaching self defense through violence, or Islamic jihadi — all are the same form of teaching violence to kids.
I work with thousands of patients who have been affected by gun violence. It shows up in their chronic pains and anxiety, if not more overt injuries.
Plus, shooting guns into a hillside fouls your soil and water. When I was an environmental engineer, my first job was flying around to closing military bases, cleaning up small arms shooting ranges (under contract with afcee as part of the brac initiative). I would never drink water downstream from Sawmill, although the animals unfortunately do.
Don’t worry, if you have guns, we can still be friends. You probably will just not invite me to be a part of your endeavor, and, well, your endeavor may look a bit monotone.
A note on my Jeffco schools, which have a top rating in school shootings (and the area has a top rating in carrying guns) — I signed up to be a “Watch Dog” months ago, and they still haven’t started this program for this year. So I sit a few blocks away at home, instead of in front of the school, where I could be a deterrent or catching bullets…while my kid practices “bear at the door” drills. I asked the staff why half the semester has passed and no Watch Dog program, and they said they have to ask the lady who coordinates — and she is gone hunting.
