A Spike In Teen Violence: Philly Doctors Address Gun Safety At Workshop
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia doctors addressed gun safety at a special workshop held at Einstein Medical Center Tuesday. This comes as there is a feud brewing between many in the medical community and the National Rifle Association about gun safety regulations.
The session at Einstein was aimed at doctors helping to educate families.
As a toy gun was passed around Einstein pediatricians and medical students were getting lessons on gun safety to share with families.
"You have to gun proof the child and child proof the gun," said firearms instructor Jose Morales.
Jose Morales, an NRA certified fire-arms instructor, explained that keeping guns locked and unloaded is critical for safety but many gun owners don't.
The issue of gun violence in Philadelphia has exploded recently.
More than 90 teens have been shot this year, that's a 40 percent increase from last year.
"It is not a rare occurrence for us to be dealing with families, dealing with kids who are suffering in some way from the effects of gun violence," said Dr. Kelly Bradley.
A recent medical report pushing for better gun safety prompted the National Rifle Association to say on Twitter "anti-gun" doctors should "stay in their lane."
Doctors fired back launching the hashtag "#ThisIsOurLane" talking about caring for gunshot victims, including photos of the bloody aftermath.
"It's just so clear it is our lane in pediatrics and across medicine in all specialties. Kids aren't just harmed when they are individually injured or killed by a firearm, but when a family member is you know that harms kids too," said Dr. Bradley.
With this session instead of being on the receiving end of gun violence, these medical professionals hope to be on the front end of prevention with education.
