Child shootings are on course to break records, worrying doctors at Cook Children’s
The number of local children injured in shootings in 2021 is on track to break records, and it’s causing fears among medical professionals at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.
Through May of this year, the hospital has treated 35 children for gunshot wounds, in many cases accidental, according to a news release. Accidental or not, gunshot wounds are among the most likely injuries from which children can die.
Two of the 35 children admitted to Cook Children’s died from their wounds, according to the release. In the entirety of 2019, 41 children were admitted for gunshot wounds and five died. In 2020, that number rose to 47 shot and four who died.
Dr. Dan Guzman, an emergency room doctor at Cook Children’s, said in the release he fears that number will continue to rise sharply throughout the summer months. With children out of school and oftentimes at home alone while their parents work, an improperly secured gun can cost a life.
Most of the recent shootings have been accidental, but Guzman said that makes them all the more preventable.
Jill Plunkett, an emergency room nurse, said that in addition to making sure guns are secured and cannot be accessed by children, parents should educate their little ones about gun safety.
“We have guns in our home — they were never loaded and my children didn’t even know the code to the safe until they were adults. They knew the guns were in our home, and if they ever wanted to see them or had questions, my husband would take them out and educate them, but they were never accessible,” Plunkett said in the news release.
Guzman agreed and said the issue isn’t about the right to own a gun but what it means to be a responsible gun owner.
“This is not about who can have a gun or who shouldn’t have a gun,” he said in the release. “The bottom line is our children’s safety.”
Cook Children’s said there are three important lessons about gun safety every parent and child should know:
- Store firearms unloaded and in a locked location away from children. Use trigger locks and gun boxes, and hide the safes and trigger lock keys. Keep unlocked guns in your possession and out of reach of children.
- Make sure children recognize a gun and know what to do if they see one, even if there isn’t a gun in the home. They should stop, not touch the gun, run away and tell an adult.
- Ask the parents of your child’s friends if there is a gun in the home and how those guns are being stored. If you are asked about guns in your home, don’t be offended. The end goal is simply gun safety, and asking about guns should be about protecting the children who live in and enter that home.