Another Shooting Incident

This is one of the hospitals at which I work.

People want to talk about mental health with the story, and in one sense that is OK. Whether or not mental health is part of the story, that topic always deserves conversation. However, there is no mental illness that causes gun violence. Unfettered access to firearms is what directly contributes to that.

New York is among states with better gun safety laws, but there are still too many loopholes with adjacent states and people who want to undermine those laws (or undermine Kathy Hochul).

We are a city still healing from a terrible shooting 3 years ago, and a nation who doesn’t have time to heal from shootings because they just keep happening.

We need gun safety reform. Stronger red flag laws, better in-depth background checks, waiting periods, standardized safety training with proof of safe storage, and yes, mental health checks.

This is also part the effort needed to take hospital/healthcare safety more seriously than we have in the past. There have been too many incidents of HCWs being endangered or harmed across the nation, and people who try to speak up about that have been ignored. Reduced access to guns would be an asset to that as well.

I know some folks will instantly cry foul at the thought of any restrictions on your incorrect insurrectionist interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, but we have long since lost the privilege of prioritizing murderous objects above human lives.