W#15 Health Promotion replies

POST # 1 MARINO

Predicting firearm violence

        The potential of gun violence especially is school grounds are heartbreaking events that have been happening one too many times in our schools. It is identified by healthcare and law professionals as a critical health problem in this country (Goldstick et al., 2017). There has been an increase in the debate among politicians and news organizations only to die down a few months later until it happens again. Unfortunately, the laws vary from state to state, and to acquire a firearm might be an easy task, depending on where someone’s residency is located.

        The greatest risk factors that our community, in the Boston area can be the victim of gun violence still the mental health issues that have yet been addressed accordingly. Another risk factor is the incidence of school shootings fatal or non-fatal is to be happening in neighborhoods where its inhabitants are in a disadvantaged economic situation (Barboza, 2018). By having these disadvantage population living under non-optimal economic status may be difficult to define which case is due to mental health or related to disputes due to drugs or other factors.

        There are many changes in the community which could help decrease the possibility of future mass shootings. The rich-poor gap level in the community is interconnected to trust in institutions, economic opportunity, and public welfare expending are well related to firearm violence rates in this country (Daniel Kim, 2019). By having a strong program to help young people that may be suffering from some mental issue and needs help without having to be pragmatized in their daily life. Many times, someone may not ask for help due to being afraid that may not be considered by potential employers in the future due to their illness. Therefore, this community needs to change not only the psychosocial treatment of patients but also the economic status of some neighborhoods thus decreasing the probability of gun violence.

        In Massachusetts, there are a couple of deterrents that can help the community decrease the number of gun violence. The “red flag” law which lets relatives or members of a household petition a court to remove the guns of someone that may be a danger to themselves or others (Whitfield, C. T. (2019). It is an important law that can help anyone to report and have authorities to temporarily remove the gun. The second community intervention is the Center for Gun Violence Prevention which is a multidisciplinary initiative from the Massachusetts General Hospital which dedicates to prevent firearm-related violence and promotes safety in homes and communities across the state (Massachusetts General Hospital, 2020). The two interventions in the state being one by the legislative and the other a healthcare facility it shows how important it is to work tighter and solve the problem of gun violence.

        The mother of the Columbine shooter was very heroic in her remarks. I cannot even imagine how painful must be for her to hear in the news many years ago that her son was part of such a heinous act against his colleagues at his school. Understandably, she went through all the physical and psychological health issues which turned her into a strong person. It is a good thing that she spoke out about the events that transpired along those painful days and the necessity of healthcare officials and healthcare work together to not only treat mental health but also to address the issue of buying guns in this country with such a facility. This writer would like to emphasize that it is not against someone to own a gun, since is part of the constitutional rights. However, it is necessary to have proper legislation in place to make sure only people that know how to operate and safeguard these weapons should be the holder of one.

 

References

Barboza, G. (2018). A secondary spatial analysis of gun violence near Boston schools: A 

        public health approach. Journal of Urban Health. 95(3), 344-360. https://web-a-

        ebscohost-com.regiscollege.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=9b298db7-

         fb36-48c0-ab87-aaf0e124289f%40sdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnN 

        pdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3 d%3d#AN=130103239&db=ccm

Daniel Kim, D. (2019). Social determinants of health in relation to firearm-related homicides 

        in the United States: A nationwide multilevel cross-sectional study. PLoS Med.16(12). 

        DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002978

Goldstick, J. E., Carter, P. M., Walton, M. A., Dahlberg, L. L., Sumner, S. A., Zimmerman, M. A., 

        & Cunningham, R. M. (2017). Development of the SaFETy score: A clinical screening  

        tool for predicting future firearm violence risk. Annals of Internal Medicine, (10), 707.

Massachusetts General Hospital (2020). Center for gun violence prevention. 

        https://www.massgeneral.org/gun-violence-prevention

Whitfield, C. T. (2019). We have a law that could reduce gun violence — if only more knew 

        about it. The Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2019/12/30/magazine/we-

        have-law-that-could-reduce-gun-violence-if-only-more-knew-about-it/