Pediatric firearm injuries are a significant public and medical community issue. Clinicians are on the front line caring for children, adolescents, and their families after a firearm injury or death. They also represent the best hopes for preventing firearm injuries to children and adolescents in the future. In circumstances of injury and violence they provide medical, mental health, and rehabilitative care. They also provide anticipatory guidance to prevent firearm injuries and deaths and should have a strong voice in the local, state and national discussions about firearm policies for injury prevention. This book provides an overview of the epidemiology and risk factors for firearm injuries in children and adolescents. It will serve as a practical clinical guide for firearm injury prevention at the individual, state and national levels. The beginning of the book focuses on the epidemiology of firearm injuries, primarily centered in the United States, but also including an international perspective. It addresses the role of firearms in suicide, homicide, and domestic violence, and examines mass shootings as well. The second half of the book focuses on preventive measures for firearm injuries including primary care and hospital-based interventions, community interventions, and state and federal legislation. It concludes with a background on the history of firearm research in the United States and future directions for decreasing firearm injuries. The book’s overall focus is on public policy and the role of clinicians and public health advocates, while simultaneously offering practical tools and information about the clinician’s role in intervention. Written by experts in the field, Pediatric Firearm Injuries and Fatalities is an ideal resource for pediatric, adolescent medicine, emergency medicine, primary care and family medicine clinicians. At the same time, it appeals to all clinicians and public health advocates wishing to develop a better understanding of pediatric firearm injuries and a path forward to decreasing them.

This edited collection of data and perspectives takes a fresh approach to gun violence prevention by addressing the question, “why are we losing the war on gun violence in America?” Although successes and failures in the prevention of gun violence are examined, it is a war we are losing, due to restrictions on research funding, entrenched historical perspectives, structural violence, and perhaps differing priorities or views on what is right or wrong. Gun violence is a public health crisis. It remains politicized and has been paralyzed with inaction. In the chapters, the authors write candidly about the challenges that have thwarted gun violence prevention, as well as highlight possible strategies for progress to save lives. Critical areas explored among the chapters include: Gun Violence, Structural Violence, and Social Justice School Shootings: Creating Safer Schools Mental Illness and Gun Violence Understanding the Political Divide in Gun Policy Support The Second Amendment and the War on Guns The Impact of Policy and Law Enforcement Strategies on Reducing Gun Violence in America Youth Gun Violence Prevention Organizing Smart Guns Don't Kill People With this compendium, the editors and authors hope to bridge the growing gap between groups or ideologies, and create common ground to discuss workable solutions. Why We Are Losing the War on Gun Violence in the United States is essential reading for a broad audience including practitioners, academics, researchers, students, policy-makers, and other professionals in public health, behavioral sciences (including social work and psychology), social sciences, health sciences, public policy, political science, and law, as well as any readers interested in the path to decreasing gun violence in America.

Pediatric firearm injuries are a significant public and medical community issue. Clinicians are on the front line caring for children, adolescents, and their families after a firearm injury or death. They also represent the best hopes for preventing firearm injuries to children and adolescents in the future. In circumstances of injury and violence they provide medical, mental health, and rehabilitative care. They also provide anticipatory guidance to prevent firearm injuries and deaths and should have a strong voice in the local, state and national discussions about firearm policies for injury prevention. This book provides an overview of the epidemiology and risk factors for firearm injuries in children and adolescents. It will serve as a practical clinical guide for firearm injury prevention at the individual, state and national levels. The beginning of the book focuses on the epidemiology of firearm injuries, primarily centered in the United States, but also including an international perspective. It addresses the role of firearms in suicide, homicide, and domestic violence, and examines mass shootings as well. The second half of the book focuses on preventive measures for firearm injuries including primary care and hospital-based interventions, community interventions, and state and federal legislation. It concludes with a background on the history of firearm research in the United States and future directions for decreasing firearm injuries. The book's overall focus is on public policy and the role of clinicians and public health advocates, while simultaneously offering practical tools and information about the clinician's role in intervention. Written by experts in the field, Pediatric Firearm Injuries and Fatalities is an ideal resource for pediatric, adolescent medicine, emergency medicine, primary care and family medicine clinicians. At the same time, it appeals to all clinicians and public health advocates wishing to develop a better understanding of pediatric firearm injuries and a path forward to decreasing them.

For years proposals for gun control and the ownership of firearms have been among the most contentious issues in American politics. For public authorities to make reasonable decisions on these matters, they must take into account facts about the relationship between guns and violence as well as conflicting constitutional claims and divided public opinion. In performing these tasks, legislators need adequate data and research to judge both the effects of firearms on violence and the effects of different violence control policies. Readers of the research literature on firearms may sometimes find themselves unable to distinguish scholarship from advocacy. Given the importance of this issue, there is a pressing need for a clear and unbiased assessment of the existing portfolio of data and research. Firearms and Violence uses conventional standards of science to examine three major themes - firearms and violence, the quality of research, and the quality of data available. The book assesses the strengths and limitations of current databases, examining current research studies on firearm use and the efforts to reduce unjustified firearm use and suggests ways in which they can be improved.

Gun Facts debunks common myths about gun control. It is intended as a reference guide for journalists, activists, politicians, and other people interested in restoring honesty to the debate about guns, crime, and the 2nd Amendment. Divided into chapters based on gun control topics (assault weapons, ballistic finger printing, firearm availability, etc.), finding information is quick and easy. Each chapter lists common gun control myths, then lists a number of documented and cited facts (with nearly 500 detailed footnotes). Thus when a neighbor, editor or politician repeats some sound bite about firearm control policy, you can quickly find that myth then rebuke with real information.

This report synthesizes the available scientific evidence on the effects of various firearm policies on firearm deaths, violent crime, the gun industry, participation in hunting and sport shooting, and other outcomes. Based on this synthesis, the authors highlight policies whose effects are better supported by evidence and areas where more and better information could contribute to establishing fair and effective gun policies.

Even if you don't have guns in your home, you never know where your child will be when they encounter a firearm. Have you done enough to educate your child on how to respond? This book introduces the lesson of "Stop, get away, and tell an adult" to your child in a way that they'll want to hear.

Social Emergency Medicine incorporates consideration of patients’ social needs and larger structural context into the practice of emergency care and related research. In doing so, the field explores the interplay of social forces and the emergency care system as they influence the well-being of individual patients and the broader community. Social Emergency Medicine recognizes that in many cases typical fixes such as prescriptions and follow-up visits are not enough; the need for housing, a safe neighborhood in which to exercise or socialize, or access to healthy food must be identified and addressed before patients’ health can be restored. While interest in the subject is growing rapidly, the field of Social Emergency Medicine to date has lacked a foundational text – a gap this book seeks to fill. This book includes foundational chapters on the salience of racism, gender and gender identity, immigration, language and literacy, and neighborhood to emergency care. It provides readers with knowledge and resources to assess and assist emergency department patients with social needs including but not limited to housing, food, economic opportunity, and transportation. Core emergency medicine content areas including violence and substance use are covered uniquely through the lens of Social Emergency Medicine. Each chapter provides background and research, implications and recommendations for practice from the bedside to the hospital/healthcare system and beyond, and case studies for teaching. Social Emergency Medicine: Principles and Practice is an essential resource for physicians and physician assistants, residents, medical students, nurses and nurse practitioners, social workers, hospital administrators, and other professionals who recognize that high-quality emergency care extends beyond the ambulance bay.

Does allowing people to own or carry guns deter violent crime? Or does it simply cause more citizens to harm each other? Directly challenging common perceptions about gun control, legal scholar John Lott presents the most rigorously comprehensive data analysis ever done on crime statistics and right-to-carry laws. This timely and provocative work comes to the startling conclusion: more guns mean less crime. In this paperback edition, Lott has expanded the research through 1996, incorporating new data available from states that passed right-to-carry and other gun laws since the book's publication as well as new city-level statistics. "Lott's pro-gun argument has to be examined on the merits, and its chief merit is lots of data. . . . If you still disagree with Lott, at least you will know what will be required to rebut a case that looks pretty near bulletproof."Peter Coy, Business Week "By providing strong empirical evidence that yet another liberal policy is a cause of the very evil it purports to cure, he has permanently changed the terms of debate on gun control. . . . Lott's book could hardly be more timely. . . . A model of the meticulous application of economics and statistics to law and policy."John O. McGinnis, National Review "His empirical analysis sets a standard that will be difficult to match. . . . This has got to be the most extensive empirical study of crime deterrence that has been done to date." Public Choice "For anyone with an open mind on either side of this subject this book will provide a thorough grounding. It is also likely to be the standard reference on the subject for years to come."Stan Liebowitz, Dallas Morning News "A compelling book with enough hard evidence that even politicians may have to stop and pay attention. More Guns, Less Crimeis an exhaustive analysis of the effect of gun possession on crime rates."James Bovard, Wall Street Journal "John Lott documents how far 'politically correct' vested interests are willing to go to denigrate anyone who dares disagree with them. Lott has done us all a service by his thorough, thoughtful, scholarly approach to a highly controversial issue."Milton Friedman

The death of a child is a special sorrow. No matter the circumstances, a child's death is a life-altering experience. Except for the child who dies suddenly and without forewarning, physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel usually play a central role in the lives of children who die and their families. At best, these professionals will exemplify "medicine with a heart." At worst, families' encounters with the health care system will leave them with enduring painful memories, anger, and regrets. When Children Die examines what we know about the needs of these children and their families, the extent to which such needs areâ€"and are notâ€"being met, and what can be done to provide more competent, compassionate, and consistent care. The book offers recommendations for involving child patients in treatment decisions, communicating with parents, strengthening the organization and delivery of services, developing support programs for bereaved families, improving public and private insurance, training health professionals, and more. It argues that taking these steps will improve the care of children who survive as well as those who do notâ€"and will likewise help all families who suffer with their seriously ill or injured child. Featuring illustrative case histories, the book discusses patterns of childhood death and explores the basic elements of physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical care for children and families experiencing a child's life-threatening illness or injury.