This article in The Atlantic was written by a radiologist who treated victims of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
In a typical handgun injury that I diagnose almost daily, a bullet leaves a laceration through an organ like the liver. To a radiologist, it appears as a linear, thin, grey bullet track through the organ. There may be bleeding and some bullet fragments.I was looking at a CT scan of one of the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who had been brought to the trauma center during my call shift. The organ looked like an overripe melon smashed by a sledgehammer, with extensive bleeding. How could a gunshot wound have caused this much damage?
The reaction in the emergency room was the same. One of the trauma surgeons opened a young victim in the operating room, and found only shreds of the organ that had been hit by a bullet from an AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle which delivers a devastatingly lethal, high-velocity bullet to the victim. There was nothing left to repair, and utterly, devastatingly, nothing that could be done to fix the problem. The injury was fatal.
What to do about semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15, which were designed for the battlefield to kill people? Ban them. Allow only the military to carry them. Keep them away from civilians. Bar their sale at gun shows and online. Arrest anyone who sells them. Confiscate or buy back all those now in existence. Make it a crime for a civilian to own one.Background checks are not enough. A three-day waiting period is meaningless. Nikolas Cruz would have passed the background check and waited three days. Raising the age limit to own a killing machine is not enough. The mass murderer at the Pulse nightclub and the shooter at the Las Vegas festival would have met the age limit and the background check.
Ban them. Limit them for military use only. They are intended for the battlefield, and that is where they belong. Not in schools or nightclubs or churches or anywhere else.
In the future, please refer to the NRA as the Pro-Death Lobby.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
The oft-cited statistic in Australia is a simple one: There have been no mass killings — defined by experts there as a gunman killing five or more people besides himself — since the nation significantly tightened its gun control laws almost 20 years ago.
Mass shootings in Australia were rare anyway. But after a gunman massacred 35 people in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur in 1996, a public outcry spurred a national consensus to severely restrict firearms. The tightened laws, which were standardized across Australia, are more stringent than those of any state in the United States, including California.
Pushed through by John Howard, the conservative prime minister at the time, the National Firearms Agreement prohibited automatic and semiautomatic assault rifles and pump shotguns in all but unusual cases. It tightened licensing rules, established a 28-day waiting period for gun purchases, created a national gun registry and instituted a temporary buyback program that removed more than 20 percent of firearms from public circulation.
Several of the measures, including waiting periods and background checks, have been adopted piecemeal by different states in America. But the United States has never tried a national gun buyback program; in Australia, that required raising taxes. And the United States has never been able to do what Mr. Howard did: forge a broad agreement on a sweeping set of gun control measures that applies to the entire nation.
It seems that the only difference of the AR-15 or other semiautomatic from a regular rifle is the rate of shots. Otherwise, the wounds themselves are comparable. So, to effectively battle those un-healable wounds would require banning all high-velocity rifles. Which I am all for, but this will never happen in this country.
Does this radiologist understand that most handguns are also semi-automatic?
Seriously, dienne? This is what you choose to nitpick about?
The radiologist clearly writes:
“an AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle which delivers a devastatingly lethal, high-velocity bullet to the victim.”
Re-read that. It says “semi-automatic RIFLE”!
Even if semi auto handguns were banned mass shootings would still be possible. With some practice, a revolver can be fired just as fast, and with some practice, reloaded very fast as well by using the legal to own devices that lets all the bullets be loaded at once. The harder, longer term and more important task in the long run is to reverse the fetishization of guns, to end the marketing of them in much the same way that sex is used to sell other products. We have to end that part of gun culture and roll it back to being like it once was: firearms are a dangerous tool that must be handled with respect and be understood as things for sporting use only, not as fetish objects that signify membership in a discrete, specialized subculture. The fetishization, the marketing messaging, the anti government and anti crime fear mongering, all of these are directly motivated by the gun makers quest for ever larger profits. This also explains the call to arm teachers. It is a not so subtle attemp to increase market share by expanding gun culture into schools, to expand the demand for guns by normalizing them in the minds of school staff and students. If this succeeds, the waters of the gun control debate will be muddied by the inevitable friendly fire casualties that will result from all the “good guys with a gun”. If a school shooting is horrific now, imagine if you dare the trauma to a community when it is found that a student was accidentally shot and killed by a teacher while trying to defend the school. That scenario is inevitable for the simple reason that the work load of teachers is already so great that there simply will not be the time for them to develop and maintain the proficiency needed at a gun range. The ability to maintain a level of calm while under fire and to return fire with a high degree of accuracy is a perishable skill. This is why soldiers and especially special forces members spend so much time at firearms training: it’s the only way to maintain that skill set at the high level needed for the job they do. The better “short” term solution for school security is to spend the money to have at least one police officer at every school, more if needed based on school size and layout. This solution is the way to go not only because of the superior skill set of the police, but because it maintains the identity of guns as things used by trained professionals whose job requires that skill set and rejects the absurd idea that a teacher or ordinary citizen can do the same job the same way.
@Jon Lubar
“The better “short” term solution for school security is to spend the money to have at least one police officer at every school”
Right, let us make the schools resemble the actual prisons even more than they now.
Schools already have police officers or other security in place in many jurisdictions, it’s been that way for years now. From what I have seen first hand, that in no way moves the schools closer to being prisons.
Because it worked so well in Parkland: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/nikolas-cruz-florida-shooting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Whether a handgun is semi-automatic or not is NOT the point. AR-15 ammunition is totally designed to rip a person insides apart. One round from an AR-15 is enough to destroy a liver, heart, etc. Ban AR-15’s period. They are meant for soldiers, not civilians.
Yes, exactly.
Posted the Atlantic article itself at OEN
Reblogged this on Politicians Are Poody Heads and commented:
I want every gun fanatic to be required to go in and clean up after one of these mass shootings.
Clean up the blood, the guts, the brains.
And I’d start with Wayne LaPierre and Dana Loesch of the NRA.
Great idea!! And then show these fools, including Trump and State and Federal Legislators, the pictures of all the damaged organs of the victims after their autopsy. Show all these fools listed photos of the victims families at the funerals. Give the medical bills for all the victims that were shot and let them pay those outrageous bills that can and will destroy families financially. Show all these fools the real damage done during and after a mass shooting.
The harder, longer term and more important task in the long run is to reverse the fetishization of guns, to end the marketing of them in much the same way that sex is used to sell other products. We have to end that part of gun culture and roll it back to being like it once was: firearms are a dangerous tool that must be handled with respect and be understood as things for sporting use only, not as fetish objects that signify membership in a discrete, specialized subculture. The fetishization, the marketing messaging, the anti government and anti crime fear mongering, all of these are directly motivated by the gun makers quest for ever larger profits. This also explains the call to arm teachers. It is a not so subtle attemp to increase market share by expanding gun culture into schools, to expand the demand for guns by normalizing them in the minds of school staff and students. If this succeeds, the waters of the gun control debate will be muddied by the inevitable friendly fire casualties that will result from all the “good guys with a gun”. If a school shooting is horrific now, imagine if you dare the trauma to a community when it is found that a student was accidentally shot and killed by a teacher while trying to defend the school. That scenario is inevitable for the simple reason that the work load of teachers is already so great that there simply will not be the time for them to develop and maintain the proficiency needed at a gun range. The ability to maintain a level of calm while under fire and to return fire with a high degree of accuracy is a perishable skill. This is why soldiers and especially special forces members spend so much time at firearms training: it’s the only way to maintain that skill set at the high level needed for the job they do. The better “short” term solution for school security is to spend the money to have at least one police officer at every school, more if needed based on school size and layout. This solution is the way to go not only because of the superior skill set of the police, but because it maintains the identity of guns as things used by trained professionals whose job requires that skill set and rejects the absurd idea that a teacher or ordinary citizen can do the same job the same way.
A very close friend of mine retired from a very large school in Western NY. They have 5,000 Students and 5 security guards. That is one guard per 1,000 children. that is spread pretty thin. classes average 40+ children per classroom. You do the math. No way can 5 men protect that many students. How do we fix this? The NRA is recommending armed guards and armed teachers. Who is going to foot the cost? Not the NRA and very few schools have the funds for this. Plus the time to give the teachers firearm training. Most schools don’t have the funds to pay a decent wage to them. I am a responsible gun owner and I don’t have an answer.
Bring the troops home and let them protect schools and churches and nightclubs and workplaces. Or buy back the guns.
Maybe everyone should wear a bullet-proof vest 24/7, too. What a country this will be!!! Time to think about moving!!!
Number of cops per student is a false metric. What’s important is the configuration of the school and how guards are deployed.
Dr. Heather Sher’s piece in The Atlantic about the killing machine used in the Florida massacre is compelling, of course.
What I have yet to figure out is why there is a lack of concomitant public outrage at the highway carnage by similar killing machines: drunk drivers.
Drunks killed 10,497 people in the U.S. in 2016, the last year for which there are current records.
That is roughly the same number as are killed yearly by other people’s guns.
We have learned to live with, or tolerate at worst, the annual toll of drunk drivers. Yet as we know the numbers of highway deaths attributed to alcohol are the same as gun homicides.
Where is our adult responsibility to engage this encompassing discussion while we are looking at the bright shiny object of the moment – an AR15?
Ted,
Drivers have to get a license. They have to pass a test to drive a car. The car must be registered and inspected regularly. The purpose of cars is transportation.
The purpose of guns is to kill. Some kill animals. The purpose of military weapons is to kill people. Military weapons should not be available to civilians, just as armed military tanks are not sold to civilians.
Ted, you are a troll. Why do you even compare these numbers?
I hate that term. I thought that this forum was open to all—not just liberal Democrats. We all have ideas and questions to contribute for discussion and consideration. We are all affected by this tragedy and would like to see some solutions so just stop belittling others contributions. Please.
April, when someone makes a totally irrelevant and off-the-wall comparison, as Ted did, then he should expect to be accused of trolling.
It’s a way to derail the conversation into totally irrelevant things, and frankly, it’s a very common tactic of trolls.
April,
The fact that you post here suggests that the forum is open to almost all. There are looney tunes that I block.
I don’t know if I would call myself a liberal Democrat. I worked in the George H.W. Bush administration. I am passionate about children, education, human life, knowledge, kindness, decency, compassion, learning. Does that give me a party name? I can’t tolerate liars and frauds. That is why I don’t like Trump.
Drunk driving deaths are not intentional, school shootings are. Liscencing has nothing to do with it. That’s a total red herring.
Cars have plenty of redeeming social and practical value. Eliminating cars would have obvious negative impact in today’s society. Guns serve no useful social value. Eliminating them completely outside law enforcement and military would cause no harm
That’s false equivalence. If you want to drive a car, you need to study driver’s law, pass the test, and practice driving a car on the road for passing the test. You need to get a registration plate, report to DMV for vehicle registration. You need to report to DMV for license renewal every 3-4 years, and check your traffic offense.
Also, you can only drive a particular car under the type of driver’s license you get. That’s not just in the US. It’s common among many countries.
Obviously, guns are not. Only gun owners and buyers are subject to registration. And they are not necessarily obligated to report to the state/federal government.
People already know the difference between handguns and AR-15.
It’s derived from military weapon M-16.
Thank you for making my point – licenses are useless to prevent killing, whether they be for cars or guns.
Military weapons should be banned. Cars should not. Cars are tightly regulated as to age and ability of driver and roadworthiness of car. No civilian should own a military weapon whose sole purpose is to kill people.
Who cares if North Korea gets a nuke? Nukes don’t kill people, people kill people. See how stupid that sounds?
Thank you for showing who you are.
Here’s my translation of your word:
“It is not fair to go after guns unless we go after killings by car accident/hit-and-run. Screw that damn gun laws. You are all hypocrites!”
No military weapons should be obtained at local stores in the public. Nor should they be used outside military bases or restricted areas supervised/accompanied by proper gun trainers.
AR-15 was classified as an assault weapon under Federal Assault Weapon Ban(1994). They became available since Bush administration let it expired in 2004.
One reason people buy guns: fear of the government (IMHO, a pathological and irrational fear). How do we, as teachers, combat that phenomenon? Can it be effectively combatted under the current yoke of math/ELA test prep? I personally think this requires much more serious, intelligent, extensive thought about effective civics education than is presently occurring amongst educators.
The NRA is a terrorist organization.
ISIS (ISIL/DASH) is envious. Their minions are applying for summer internships.
It shouldn’t be the pro-death lobby. That could include many other things, such as euthanasia.
How about the Pro-dead kids lobby? or Pro-dead children lobby? That’s more emotionally evocative and also the end result of their policies.
Pro-Death lobby is meant to be a counterpoint to their claim to be Pro-Life.
They are pro-life for fetuses but not for the born children.
Diane, it’s how they seem to define “life”: Life begins at conception and ends at birth, and after that, you’re on your own, sucker!
I just cannot fathom people who think that their ownership of a gun like an AR-15 is more important than children’s lives. It’s not so much a Constitutional thing with them, it appears to be more like a fetsh, or even a cult.