Why Pediatric Gun Violence Is a Public Health Issue

I was a pediatric hospitalist in Highland Park, Illinois, in 2022. Our hospital received the majority of the victims of a mass shooting that took place on July 4 of that year.

The medical stabilization that was required for the children in the ER that day was unlike anything I had experienced. We saw the spectrum of devastating injuries caused by high-velocity bullets from an assault weapon: from soft tissue shrapnel wounds to lung contusions to life-threatening shock.

I remember sitting with family members holding their hands, hugging, crying together. Everybody was asking: “Why did this happen?” “Why me?” “Why my son?”

Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. Each death, each shooting, is a preventable tragedy. Each ripples out, a trauma and a secondary trauma to families, health professionals and communities.

That July 4 wasn’t the first day I took care of children who were victims of gun violence. And it definitely has not been the last. Every single day something happens that brings me back to that day. Every patient I see who is hospitalized as a consequence of gun violence brings me back to that day.

So how does this happen? Why does it happen? Gun violence is everywhere. Guns are everywhere. This is a personal issue for me and for so many others. But it’s a public health issue for all of us.