CPS update
The Cincinnati Pediatric Society has sent a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine regarding the tragic mass shooting in Dayton, OH, last month. They sent similar letters to other local legislators, including Sen. Sherrod Brown, Sen. Rob Portman, and Representatives Steve Chabot, Brad Wenstrup, Mike Turner, Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie.
The letter, dated August 12, reads as follows:
Dear Governor,
We, the Cincinnati Pediatric Society, an organization that includes over 300 pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, and pediatric nurse practitioners in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky, including some in Dayton, are writing you to encourage you to make our communities, churches, and schools safer places by enacting and improving state and federal policies aimed at reducing gun violence. We have watched in horror and sadness as people use weapons meant for war environments to kill innocent people. Meanwhile, very little tangible action is taken at the legislative level to prevent these tragedies. While there are many causes of these events, it is clear that access to firearms is a key driver. Until this is remedied, these events will continue.
Do something.
Inaction during this time of tragedy only guarantees that it will happen again. There are widely accepted and popular strategies that only take a vote in the legislature to make happen. These include expanded and more thorough background checks for all gun sales, emergency risk protection orders (“red flag laws”), banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and increasing penalties for gun-trafficking and gun-related offenses.
Do something.
As healthcare providers, we recognize that increased access to mental health services and education is an important piece of the overall strategy to reduce violence. We encourage you to fund to the maximum ability mental health services, both inpatient and outpatient, and to increase education around recognizing mental illness. We cannot continue to blame mental illness and then not put our resources into improving it.
Do something.
As scientists, we cannot fix something unless we know more about it. We encourage you to fund research into gun violence and its prevention. We encourage you to remove any barriers to research so that we can fully explore why this has become an epidemic in the past decade. This is an issue that we can only understand if we shine the brightest of lights on it.
Do something.
Violence prevention projects, such as the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) have been successful in addressing gun violence in the inner city. We encourage you to explore this model and expand it to other parts of the state.
Do something.
You are in a unique position to make substantive changes that will protect the lives of children and their families. We believe that it is your moral imperative to take action on this, and without delay. If you choose to follow this path, you will have the backing of the Pediatrics community of Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio.
Sincerely,
The Executive Board of the Cincinnati Pediatric Society
Meredith Frost, MD, President
Paul Bunch MD, Past President
Lauren Huff, MD, Treasurer
