Mass shootings affect children on a regular basis. We can do something about it in Illinois.

By Deanna Behrens for The Chicago Tribune

December 16, 2022

CHICAGO - Twenty-three years ago, two shooters killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado. Ten years later, during my pediatric residency, I took care of my first pediatric victim of firearm violence. A few years later, in another stage of training, another hospital and another city, I got a call saying that a toddler shot execution-style in the head was coming to our hospital. Ten years ago, 20 children and six staff members were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Last summer, seven people were fatally shot and an 8-year-old child paralyzed at a July Fourth parade in Highland Park. Every one of those tragedies was preventable. Every single one.

As a pediatric critical care physician, I have had the privilege of taking care of thousands of children, a very small percentage of whom die in the hospital. Parents often ask: Did we do everything we could? Most of the time, the answer is yes. As a witness to the devastation that gun violence inflicts on children, I have to speak out.

But I also turn that question to society. Have we done all we can to prevent children from dying or becoming disabled as a result of firearm violence? The answer is a resounding no. In 2020, firearms overtook motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death in children in the United States. Firearms are the leading cause of death in children in Illinois, with an average of more than 183 children and adolescents dying from gun violence every year in our state. Children who make it to the pediatric intensive care unit are still five time more likely to die than other children in the unit; those who survive the initial shooting often suffer long periods of recovery or permanent disability.

Gun violence is a public health crisis, and we can decrease deaths in children by treating it as such. Often, mass shootings draw public outcry and temporary attention to an issue that affects children on a regular basis. As we reflect on the 10th anniversary of Sandy Hook, it is easy to think that nothing has changed, that nothing we can do as citizens or elected officials can make a difference.

But that is not true. After a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last summer, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the broadest gun control measure passed on a federal level in more than 20 years. Illinois passed and allotted $3.5 million to a statewide safer storage education campaign this year. I know many people who were at the Highland Park parade the day of the shooting, and many pediatricians spoke out about treating the pediatric victims of the violence.

Partly as a result of this shooting, we have the opportunity in Illinois to enact another law to help save children’s lives — the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which proposes a ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines, an anti-gun trafficking task force, an increase in age to 21 for firearm owner’s identification card eligibility and a strengthening of firearm restraining orders.

Assault-style rifles have been used in many mass shootings, including school shootings. They cause wounds that are far more severe than those of the average firearm, especially to small bodies, and are able to be fired at a far higher rate. We have seen time and again how these types of weapons amplify the effects of violence in mass shootings.

While mass shootings such as the one in Highland Park are tragic and unacceptable in any society, firearm violence affects individual children and communities in our state on a daily basis. The provisions in this bill that raise the age for FOID cards are impactful for children. Individuals ages 18 to 20 have high rates of homicide — both as victims and perpetrators — and suicidality. The suspect in the Highland Park shooting was younger than 21 when he legally obtained his gun.

Parallel to the gun violence epidemic, there is a mental health crisis in children and adolescents. While this preceded the pandemic, the last three years have only worsened the problem. Firearms are by far the most fatal method used during suicide attempts. The more rural a county is in Illinois, the higher the firearm suicide rate. Most victims of suicide attempts by guns do not survive to make it to my care.

Rates of homicides and suicides from firearms have increased by 14% and 39%, respectively, over the last decade. We also know that gun violence contributes to the inequities we see in health in children. Young Black children and teens are 15 times more likely to die from gun homicide than similar young white children.

Finally, even children who are not directly affected by gun violence but who are exposed to it in school or communities can be affected. They can develop post-traumatic stress disorder or symptoms related to toxic stress that can affect them for the rest of their lives. A recent survey of a thousand Chicago parents reinforces the effects on children in our community: More than 1 in 4 parents stated that their child has heard gunshots at home, 12% say that their children know someone who was shot, and 6% say that their child has witnessed a shooting.

What can we do to protect the physical and mental health of children in Illinois? I urge you to call your legislator to support this bill and to fill out witness slips as a proponent of the bill. These are easy and impactful things that you can do today to help protect and save the lives of children in Illinois.