Survivors of gun violence gathered at a information convention on the Rancho Los Amigos Nationwide Rehabilitation Heart on Tuesday morning to share one message: It’s preventable.
To that finish, Los Angeles County public well being officers introduced that the county is providing free gun security locks to residents. Designed to be used on unloaded weapons, gun locks cowl the set off and require a key or mixture to open.
Addressing a small crowd, L.A. County Public Well being Director Barbara Ferrer mentioned, “In Los Angeles County, a baby is killed or injured by gun violence each 30 hours.”
“In 2022, greater than 300 residents in L.A. County died by gun suicide, and 510 residents died after being shot by somebody with a gun,” Ferrer mentioned.
Ferrer went on to say that too many households have skilled the ache of shedding a baby, father or mother or sibling as a result of weapons had been “available within the house, loaded and unlocked.”
To scale back the accessibility of weapons at house, the county public well being division’s Workplace of Violence Prevention is making 60,000 gun locks free to residents, no questions requested.
The locks might be ordered by way of the county’s gun security web site and acquired by mail or picked up at any of those county medical amenities:
The pickup places will broaden to county libraries towards the tip of the yr.
What distinguishes the county’s initiative from state and federal efforts to cut back gun violence is its concentrate on the accessibility of weapons within the house.
In 2020, the Nationwide Taking pictures Sports activities Basis estimated that 433.9 million firearms are in civilians’ possession.
Greater than 10% of households in L.A. County report having a gun, and lots of of these are prone to have kids, based on the Los Angeles County Division of Public Well being.
Youngsters might not perceive the risks related to having firearms of their houses, so securing the weapons is a confirmed method to lowering unintended damage and dying, mentioned Shannon Thyne, director of pediatrics for the county’s Division of Well being Companies.
“Locked firearms lower self-inflicted accidents from firearms by 78% and scale back unintentional firearm accidents by 85%,” Thyne mentioned.
Mia Livas Porter mentioned she didn’t suppose she was a survivor of gun violence, not to mention somebody who ought to be sharing her story in an effort to demand change. However when she started volunteering for Mothers Demand Motion six years in the past, she realized that she match the definition of a survivor as a result of her brother died by gun suicide greater than 30 years in the past.
She felt a accountability to boost consciousness by sharing her story and urging others to stop gun violence by asking family and friends who personal firearms what security measures they’re taking at house.
Accustomed to the lasting impacts of gun violence, Michael Scott, chair of the Bodily Drugs & Rehabilitation Division at Rancho Los Amigos, mentioned the overwhelming majority of people survive however are left with important life-changing disabilities.
Survivors go to rehabilitation facilities corresponding to Rancho Los Amigos for spinal wire, mind or orthopedic accidents attributable to a gunshot blast.
“These accidents might be devastating, leading to paralysis of the legs and arms, cognitive impairment, lack of bowel and bladder management and typically the shortcoming to breathe on their very own, requiring a person to be on a ventilator for all times,” Scott mentioned.
Except for bodily accidents, he mentioned, there’s additionally an emotional and mental-health toll on each the affected person and household.
Scott has seen rehabilitated survivors overcome their accidents and return to the workforce. But he’s nonetheless requested whether or not there are any new methods to deal with spinal wire accidents or paralysis attributable to gun violence.
“Sadly, though we’ve made advances in neurological restoration and rehabilitation, the injury executed by a gunshot blast to the spinal wire is intensive and we nonetheless don’t have a solution to repair it,” Scott mentioned. “In order that being the case, our greatest likelihood at managing this situation is to stop unintentional firearm accidents from occurring within the first place.”
