New Solutions to Gun Violence
September 14, 2018
Dear Colleagues and Students:
This summer, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that “the most common method of killing another person from 2010-2016 was by using a gun.” (CNN)
To put an end to the gun epidemic, we have to find new solutions to it. One state – California -- is restricting sales of bullets because “in many states ammunition is easier to buy than cold medicine.” (The New York Times)
The private sector is also taking a stand. Earlier this year, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart both announced they would no longer sell guns to people under 21 years of age (Wall Street Journal).
And this week, Levi Strauss & Co. pledged “more than $1 million to support nonprofits and youth activists who are working to end gun violence. The company is also partnering with Michael Bloomberg to create a coalition of business leaders who support gun control measures.”
CEO Chip Bergh said, "The gun violence epidemic in America has hit a point where something has to be done. It's inevitable that we're going to alienate some consumers, but we can no longer sit on the sidelines and remain silent on this issue." (The Washington Post)
Like tobacco, this public health crisis is one that I’ve also been passionate about addressing for many years. Yesterday The New England Journal of Medicine published an article I wrote, The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement – Strategic Lessons for Addressing Public Health Problems – outlining the lessons of the tobacco wars and how they can be applied to other major epidemics, including opioids and guns.
Gun violence, obesity and the misuse of opioids and alcohol are currently responsible for nearly 375,000 deaths – 15 percent of all deaths -- in the US today. Litigation played a key role in the decline of tobacco consumption, and it could and should be used as a model (not a panacea) to hold other industries accountable when they deceive, injure, and kill consumers with their products.
Forty-one Attorneys General are already poised to sue or settle with the opioid industry, but their hands are tied on pursuing legal action when it comes to guns because of the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields gun manufacturers from lawsuits.
It is a near-blanket indemnification not afforded any other industry and I, for one, believe it must be repealed. Countless lives hang in the balance.
Be safe this weekend,
Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH
Dean