A nurse asks: When does gun carnage become too much?

Every day I drop my two little girls off at day care, we hug, kiss and say “see you later!” But faced with yet another mass shooting, it occurred to me that one day our reunion might not happen nine hours later. After all, the most likely places for mass shootings are businesses and schools. How many more have to die before we commit to a change in gun laws?

We live a very suburban, safe, privileged life. We have food to eat, clean water to drink and stable housing. Our streets are paved, our children are educated, our nation is developed. So why in the year 2017 am I left wondering if this is the last hug I will give my innocent children as I depart each morning to work?

As a nurse practitioner in an academic medical center, I have cared for victims of gun violence. I have witnessed children die from the carnage of a stray bullet. I have received the phone call that the child taken to the operating room for the gunshot wound could not be saved and have comforted parents as they grieve the loss of their beautiful little person. But not until this week did I truly consider that parent could just as easily be me.

At a previous job, health care personnel attended mandatory “active shooter” training. We were herded into a sterile auditorium in a formidable county courthouse where we watched a graphic video of an active shooter. The instructor for the course, a law enforcement agent high in the ranks, prefaced the video by saying “now pay close attention – it is not a matter of if, but when you will need to know how to handle this situation.” This statement has haunted me for two years.

So here we are as a nation faced with yet another mass shooting. We go through trainings on how to deal with a shooter. Our children have active-shooting drills at school. But there has not been a change in gun laws. We continue to allow easy access to assault-style weapons that in an instant massacre the victims and destroy the lives of the survivors, families and communities. We continue to refresh our news feeds nearly weekly with updates of more lives lost while our politicians pad their pockets with NRA funding. When does it become too much? At what point do we stand up and say enough?

In 1996, Australia faced a mass shooting with 35 casualties and 25 more wounded. Within 12 days of the Port Arthur massacre, Australia’s prime minister announced a complete abandonment of previous gun lobbying in favor of a full reform of gun policy. The policy included stricter firearm licensing and registration systems, as well as banning automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Australians could now only own a gun for sport or target shooting. Personal protection was no longer considered an appropriate reason to own a firearm. All guns that did not meet these requirements were bought back by the government. The cost of the buy-back program was about $350 million and resulted in the destruction of more than 650,000 firearms. The citizens of Australia still today purchase firearms, but only through appropriate checks and balances. Australia has not experienced another mass shooting since the country passed this gun reform.

There is never a good time to talk about gun violence. We are told to give those affected time to grieve. Don’t be insensitive. But I pose this question: If, by definition, seven mass shootings occur each week in the United States, when is the right time? Thoughts and prayers are no longer enough. It is time for effective, collaborative gun law reform.

This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 11:00 AM with the headline "A nurse asks: When does gun carnage become too much?."