At the end of March 2023, I was able to attend the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C., alongside my wonderful colleagues Dr. Cindy Mann and Dr. Michelle Shankar. It was during the conference that we all received news of the shooting in Nashville. Hearing the news of another mass shooting is heartbreaking and feels relentless. My heart goes out to the families, teachers, students, first responders, emergency medicine and trauma colleagues, and so many others who have been directly impacted by this tragedy.
While we still grieve for the victims in Nashville and now Louisville, it must be emphasized that throughout communities in CT, lives are also being forever changed and sometimes lost to gun violence. As pediatricians, we must be active in both local and national advocacy efforts to encourage real change. Firearm injuries are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the US. Closer to home in CT, we have seen the number of firearm homicides rise from 137 in 2018-19 to 241 in 2020-21, particularly among Black and Hispanic/Latinx individuals.
As the representative of our health system on the CT Commission on Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention, I would like to bring attention to recent legislative developments in CT that can improve outcomes for victims and prevent firearm injuries. Specifically, Gov. Lamont’s sponsored bill, HB 6667: An Act Addressing Gun Violence. This package of legislative actions proposes improvements on the already strong firearm laws in our State, notably proposing to raise the age for any firearm purchase to 21, which has been widely supported by many firearm injury prevention groups, including the AAP. Importantly, this bill also puts forward funding for community violence interventions which would fund organizations serving victims of violence. For example, funding could go to multiple community organizations that support our YNHH Hospital-based Violence Intervention Program.
Although we are nearing the end of this legislative session, there is still time to advocate for gun violence prevention here in CT. I would urge any interested members of our pediatrics community to reach out, and please consider writing to your local representative (find contact information here) in support of both HB 6667 and increased community violence intervention funding. Dr. Sandy Chung, our current AAP President, said it best this past month: we all need to “continue to fight for policies to protect children from gun violence.”