June Gun Safety Month
By Albert B. Kelly
June is gun safety month in Cumberland County and for those
keeping score at home, 10 out of the 14 municipalities in our county have
declared June as gun safety month within their respective borders. It’s not
that our concern is any less as it relates to gun safety or the issues
surrounding gun violence during the other 11 months; it’s just that June has
been set aside specifically to focus on the issues and raise awareness.
The Cumberland County Positive Youth Development Coalition
(CCPYDC) worked hard 2 years ago to have June declared as gun safety month in
our area. This year will see several events throughout the month at various
locations including the “Corner Store Health & Safety” series at Holly City
Deli (605 N. 10th St Millville) on June 15th and at Abbarotes Los Puentes on June
22nd (147 Irving Ave, Bridgeton) from 1pm to 4pm on both
days.
In addition to these events, there will also be a social media
campaign on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays around 6:00 pm. The CCPYDC will be
posting at least 3 gun safety or gun factoids each week via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CumberlandCountyPositiveYouthDevelopmentCoalition/
I encourage you to visit the CCPYDC page and check out these
safety tips because there’s a lot at stake.
I came across a blurb from the New York Times by Nicholas
Bakalar that crunched some gun-related numbers from the CDC and I never fail to
be surprised at what I find. For example, over 1,200 children under the age of
18 die each year from firearm-related injuries. That’s a little over 20 kids
per week. There are roughly 5,700 nonfatal wounds per year from guns (used mostly
in assaults) and the suicide rate among white children was four times that of
black children. Conversely, the homicide rate with guns for black children was
roughly 10 times that of white children.
In terms of state figures in recent years, the highest gun
homicide rates come from Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi,
South Carolina, and Tennessee. Maybe there’s something to be said for tighter
gun laws. Yet there’s also a need for greater awareness on keeping guns
properly locked away from children since the research also shows that most
children who died of unintentional gunshot wounds were shot by kids their own
age.
That’s a stat that stands on its own. But I also wonder if
there’s not value in tying the whole issue of gun safety in with a greater
emphasis on mental health. I say that, because at the while sifting through
these gun violence numbers, I also came across a stat that suggested that there
are 10 times as many people with mental health issues (in need of treatment)
who are incarcerated as there are outside in state-run hospitals.
So whatever we want to say about gun violence, it’s not all about
criminality versus law-abiding ownership; at least some of the issues overlap
and intersect with mental health. And even if there is a temptation to lump all
gun violence into the criminality bucket and place gun safety into the
law-abiding ownership bucket, we would do well to remember that a decent chunk
of those in our jails and prisons might well have avoided incarceration if they
had the proper care. We want them to have the care they need since most will be
released at some point.
But that’s some of what’s behind declaring a gun safety
month in the first place, inserting a comma in our daily lives to talk about
these issues and really consider what we’re dealing with here. There’s the
useful and practical side and it will involve stats and figures as well as tips
and strategies for reducing gun violence and promoting greater gun safety.
But my hope is that gun safety month will also serve as a
jumping off point for people to do their own research and consider where they
stand on these issues in 2018 and why. Many of us couldn’t imagine mass
shootings or school shootings a generation ago and yet there have been 18
school shootings just since January - roughly 3 per week.
Changing the status quo isn’t only what we might do in our
own homes or within our own neighborhoods or communities, but what we expect of
our lawmakers, mental health professionals, law enforcement professionals, and
whoever else may be part of that mix. In Cumberland County, June is the time to
ponder these things.