Call your congressman/congresswoman and your senators NOW: Enough is enough…Ban assault rifles!
Myron Yaster MD
I’m sure many, if not all of you, are as dumbfounded, outraged, and as sickened as I am by the mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas which came less than a week after the mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York. There have been over 200 other mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone – and it is only June 2nd! Assault rifles are at the heart of these mass shootings and have only really one purpose: they are designed to kill people in combat. They have no reasonable place in civilian life and need to be banned. They’ve done this in New Zealand with remarkable success. Remember until 2004 assault rifles were banned in the U.S. Further, I am sick and tired of “our thoughts and prayers go to the victims and their families” or “now is not the time to change our laws”. I would like to personally call this “Bullshit” out…I’ve had it with “thoughts and prayers.” If this isn’t the time to act when will it be? When are we going to say “enough is enough”?
The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia which professionally represents many of us cannot advocate for this call to action. It is a 501(c)(3) Organization. This means it is a tax-exempt organization and is forbidden by law from using its activities to influence legislation in a substantial way, including participating in any campaign activities to support or deny any particular political candidate. 501(c)(3) organizations are typically not permitted to engage in lobbying (except in instances when its expenditures are below a certain amount). Because of this SPA can not actively lobby our lawmakers.
The Pediatric Anesthesia Article of the Day has no such limitations nor do I (even as the Founder of the SPA). My statements here are my own; please regard them as such.
I found this statement from our colleagues at the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) Board of Governors and am sharing it with you. Please read it to the end and then ACT! Act how, you ask? By calling your Representatives and Senators and urging them to pass H.R.1808 (for the House) / S.746. (for the Senate). You can find your House Reps and their direct office lines/email addresses here: https://www.house.gov/representatives. For your Senators, go here and enter your state: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm. Make sure you contact both!
Here is the APSA statement in entirety (I put my thoughts in a BOLD font for emphasis):
“As pediatric trauma surgeons, when a call goes out about an injured child, we are ready. We gather our teams and we plan, prepare and wait in our trauma bays for the victim to arrive. We have trained for this, practiced it, and, unfortunately, lived these resuscitations over and over and over in emergency rooms across the United States. When the weapon used to perpetrate harm is an assault rifle, often the victim does not even make it alive to our doors. The injury inflicted by an assault rifle is so massive and widespread the victim dies at the scene.
In the massacre that happened in Uvalde, TX, the victims were 9 and 10 year old children, averaging about 60 pounds in weight. The damage and injuries that these children sustained were so extreme and widespread that their own parents could not recognize them. DNA samples from their parents were required to identify the children.
The American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) calls for a new federal Assault Weapons Ban on military-style firearms. During the decade of the previous ban, public mass shootings and deaths decreased. Although these mass shootings are a small percentage of overall gun deaths each year, they have been used to perpetrate mass shootings of children and adults in public places that should be safe such as schools, grocery stores, theaters and churches. These weapons have the capacity for rapid fire and large numbers of rounds between reloads which increases their lethality and the number of victims. They have been used in many locations including Newtown, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, and most recently in Uvalde, each incident killing more than a dozen people.
APSA acknowledges the Second Amendment and the right to responsible gun ownership. However, assault weapons have no place in the civilian arena. Therefore, we call for a new federal Assault Weapons Ban. We support H.R.1808 / S.746, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021. We strongly urge Congress to move forward in adopting these bills and reinstating a ban on Assault Weapons. Too many children and adults have been killed in the hands of civilians using these weapons. As pediatric surgeons, we are committed to saving lives of children to allow them to live their lifetimes. We need the help of our legislators to remove ready access to these dangerous weapons that have been used, time and again, to commit mass murders in peaceful communities in our country.”
Board of Governors, American Pediatric Surgical Association
All I can say in conclusion is “BRAVO”! AND please contact your congressman/woman and senators today! Myron Yaster MD
Myron, did you post Donahue's private email to you on a public forum? That's sub-optimal.
He's on point with what he said. Several other pediatric anesthesiologists I know agree with Brian.
In addition to his points, why do you think schools are targets? Because they're no gun zones and murderers therefore target them. In TN, there was a massive shooting attempt at a church - the gunmen was shot by attendees before doing damage, 4 of which had their guns pointed at him. "Hard school zones" in some states, where some of the teachers carry, are not targets. This is personal to me as I lost a friend at a mass school shooting, and if I had been there with a gun, the shooter may have killed me but no one else.
I hope going forward this will be a forum for pediatric anesthesia discussion, not politically charged topics. I should note I'm not a republican.
(responding to https://ronlitman.substack.com/p/reader-responses-f5d?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&s=r)