Citation

Williams M, Olufajo OA, Cornwell EE. J. Surg. Res. 2020; 257: 142-143.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jss.2020.07.069

PMID

32828997

Abstract

We greatly appreciate the furthering of the academic discussion by Kuo et al. in the form of an editorial to our article entitled, Trends in firearm injuries among children and teenagers in the United States. The authors are grateful for your thoughtful editorial and would like to comment specifically on a few critical issues to highlight the overall importance of the academic dialogue and further shed light on the complexity of the gun dilemma in America and therefore explain our reluctance to advance any specific recommendations in the article. Howard University Hospital Level I Trauma Center is the recipient of 4-y of peer-reviewed funding that supports a very active hospital-based violence intervention program. As you have pointed out in your editorial, these programs are successful at identification of victims of gun violence and taking advantage of teachable moments to prevent recidivism. We heavily support these policies but are also deeply committed to discovering upstream societal structural interventions that prevent gun violence. The editorial appropriately highlights the fall in the pediatric component of gun violence mortality from 16.8% to 13.6%, whereas at the same time, pediatric deaths from assault decreased from 19.6% to 14.1%. However, self-inflicted injury mortality increased...

Language: en