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Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,102
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds

I remember getting first-aid training while very young. Things like applying a tourniquet and pressure over wounds were taught back in the sixties in elementary school.

 

Philly is pretty good at dealing with gunshot victims. The police just grab and go when they find a victim rather than wait for the EMTs to show up. Time is the biggest issue in saving lives. The sooner you get a victim to a trauma center the less likely they are to die. If the victim is still alive when the police arrive they'll throw them in the back of the squad car and take off to the nearest trauma center. If they wait and call for an ambulance, then wait for the ambulance to arrive, stabilize the patient, prepare them for transport and haul them off, it can be too late for many victims.

 

By grabbing and going they save a lot of lives. Something like 80% of gunshot victims who arrive alive at a trauma center survive. If you wait around for the EMTs, they're more likely to arrive at the trauma center dead. Philly has six level one trauma centers, so the police are seldom more than five minutes to so away from one of them. Throw a victim in, hit the sirens and lights, and take off to the nearest trauma center.

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Honored Contributor
Posts: 15,627
Registered: ‎01-06-2015

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds

Yes gun violence only happens in cities. There aren't random shootings or mass shootings in the suburban utopias in certain states. Nope, not at all.

 

Last Sunday 60 Minutes did a segment about the physical damage done by AR15s. The vast majority can't be saved, people are unrecognizable(that is a sanitized word for it). One of the most depressing stories I have ever seen on tv.

"You call him The Edge, I just call him The"
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,019
Registered: ‎10-22-2018

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds

Philadelphia is putting together a budget of about $150 million for anti-gun violence programs. When I was young, I had answers for everything. Not now.

 

After school recreation is nice, but not enough. Jobs? There's help wanted signs everywhere. Required preventive psychotherapy for everyone in certain zip codes? Yikes! Within the same family, one child grows up and is successful in society;  the other becomes a gangbanger.

 

Where would you spend that money?

 

Personally, I would make sure that all children in violence-prone zip codes had access to three nutritious, organic meals every day. A strong body is where it all starts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,764
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds


@Greeneyedlady21 wrote:

Yes gun violence only happens in cities. There aren't random shootings or mass shootings in the suburban utopias in certain states. Nope, not at all.

 

Last Sunday 60 Minutes did a segment about the physical damage done by AR15s. The vast majority can't be saved, people are unrecognizable(that is a sanitized word for it). One of the most depressing stories I have ever seen on tv.


@Greeneyedlady21 agreed.  It's everywhere. And the cases of work-place violence can happen at any business no matter the location or setting.  

 

I didn't see the 60 minutes segment you mentioned but a few years ago I read an eye-opening article about why many health care pros wish those more powerful weapons were banned in the regular population.  The descriptions of what these drs, nurses, PAs, etc. see in the ER and OR is damage beyond any repair.  Victims of these kinds of weapons may be alive when they're brought into the hospital but there's most often nothing left to be done for them.  The organs have been so damaged or are almost obliterated and loved ones must be told that although their daughter, son, mother, father hasn't died yet, survival is impossible.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,630
Registered: ‎08-19-2014

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds

  How sad that things have come to this. Instead of getting rid of the guns we have to teach our kids how to handle getting shot.Life is becoming pretty depressing.Thoughts & prayers just don't cut it anymore.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,197
Registered: ‎07-29-2014

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds

Children feel empowered being able to help in any situation, so double the benefit.

Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎07-09-2011

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds


@elated wrote:

I could understand maybe a teenager but a child would be devastated. Who makes these decisions??? 


@elated 

 

I believe that helplessly standing by watching a friend die would be equally devastating.  This training could save a life.  Children are so amazing in what they can do.  Who made the decision that so many of us are armed?

 

When I was 5 we practiced hiding under our desks, and in the hallways, in case the Russians bombed us.  Not nearly as useful as this.

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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,656
Registered: ‎06-09-2010

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds


@Drythe wrote:

@elated wrote:

I could understand maybe a teenager but a child would be devastated. Who makes these decisions??? 


@elated 

 

I believe that helplessly standing by watching a friend die would be equally devastating.  This training could save a life.  Children are so amazing in what they can do.  Who made the decision that so many of us are armed?

 

When I was 5 we practiced hiding under our desks, and in the hallways, in case the Russians bombed us.  Not nearly as useful as this.


My point was that if you have an active shooter, the probability of someone saving a person's life would be minimal.  A child seeing a person bleeding on the ground and gunfire is going to cause severe damage to that child's psych. I believe we should help when we can but that is not always possible. This training should include different scenarios and when one should act. Children have different developmental progressions.  The second amendment made the decision.

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Posts: 118
Registered: ‎02-28-2013

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds

[ Edited ]

@Greeneyedlady21 

 

From a UC Davis Firearm Injury Prevention Study.  Don't think I can paste the link here.

But the following comes from the Facts and Figures page.  This is a study from year 2019.   The figures are astounding but they are as follows,


39,707 total gun deaths

60% of gun deaths from suicide 23,941

37% of gun deaths from firearm homicide 14,861

 

The remaining 3% are unintentional or undetermined or legal intervention .  Public mass shootings account for .2% of gun homicides.   

While mass shootings garner lots of news coverage because they are so horrific in nature, the deaths are only .2% of total gun deaths.

 

It's a sad state of affairs when communities are being instructed on how to help victims of gun violence and government is failing to provide adequate safety and protection to their citizens.

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,102
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Gunshot Wound First Aid Classes for 8-18 Year-Olds

There's not a lot that government can do. Those shooting people are breaking the law. Anyone who believes they'd obey a gun law when they don't obey the laws against shooting people may be a bit naive. The results from cities/states with strict gun control measures make it clear the offenders won't stop because of a law. Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in the country and also has some of the most shootings in the country.

 

The black market for guns now is thriving. Ironically due to the overhead costs of running a gun store (insurance, compliance with government rules and regulations, etc.) in some/many cases, the black market price for a gun is lower than you could buy the same gun in a licensed gun store.

 

Even if guns were completely banned, they're not hard to manufacture. Guns have been made since the 1400s. Modern technology makes it pretty easy for someone with a small shop to churn out multiple weapons a day. 

 

Until people respect the laws or are held accountable for breaking the law, gun deaths will occur. It's truly not a gun issue as much as a lawlessness/lack of respect for the law issue. I haven't checked it lately, but the last I checked the average prison time served for murder was 71 months. That's not all that long. And that's the average. Many serve even less time for murder. 

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