In the world of gun violence everyone is aware of the death toll. But most don't hear about the survivors of gun violence or how illegal guns have destroyed their lives. It is not just the deaths.
I was prompted to write this after meeting a person I had helped a few years back who had been shot and seeing what they are living with today.
More after the squiggle
My current civilian job is as a Paramedic for a mid-size city. (I am currently in the Reserves) I have the 1800 to 1000 shift (6 pm to 10 am) and work the lower income side of the city...well we cover the whole county and are understaffed so i've often been across the county making responses. But generally i'm on the "west end". So I see a lot of the effects of gun violence up close. (as well as violence in general).
I've had to declare death on many people over the years, I've rushed to the hospital in failed attempts to save people, and I've rushed people to the hospital who lived and had varying degrees of recovery.
The ones who died always make the news. The ones who survive might get a blurb in the news for a day, but often are forgotten and never talked about.
This is about the change in life getting shot has that the news never tells you about.
[for HIPPA reason no names and as little information about the victims will be used]
Example 1)
First up is one that made the news for more than one day. A early teen age kid was playing basketball in the park at sunset. Someone or ones drove by and started shooting into the court, hitting the teen who was too young to drive in the leg several times. The kid was rushed to the hospital, leg was broken in four places. They saved the leg but this middle school star basketball player now walks with a cane and MIGHT be able to give that up in a few years.
Example 2)
A gentleman came home one night and was held up at his door by two armed men. He gave them his wallet and one of the two swore at him for not having cash and shot him. He fell down and pulled out his legal gun and started shooting back. The bad guys ran off, one with a large chunk of his lower calf missing. The gentleman had several small caliber bullet holes in his abdomen, and a large caliber wound in his leg.
Yeah, sounds like a NRA hero story. BUT the gentleman now has to have a colostomy bag for the rest of his life because of all the damage the bullets in his abdomen did. (you basically poop into the bag that is attached to your belly) He also walks with a limp and lost his job due to being unable to lift anything over 5 pounds and there being no other position he could fill.
Example 3)
A young mother was enjoying the nice day on her front porch with her 1 year old daughter. Suddenly four men ran towards the home shooting, went up on the porch and fired at her at close range then left. The child was killed, the mother spent 8 months in the hospital recovering and 9 more months in a rehab center, now walks with a walker and is in physical pain all day long on top of the loss of the child. (The shooters had gotten the address messed up and instead of attacking the other gang came there.)
Example 4)
An elementary school age student found an unsecured gun belonging to the Convicted Felon Step Parent, played with it and fired it hitting his under 5 half brother, who lived but is not expected to have advanced brain function for rest of his life.
Example 5)
A mid-twenties person was in their car when another car pulled up and exchanged words. The other car started shooting at the person who pulled their gun and in the process of getting the gun out of the waist band holder while seated fired the gun and destroyed one of their kidneys. This was on top of the three other wounds that resulted in the loss of one lobe of their lungs. In recovery the repeated infections damaged the other kidney and they are looking at needing dialysis in the next few years on top of having less ability to breath.
Example 6)
A middel age person was in an argument with another same age range family member, pulled a gun they were not legal to own and shot the foot of their family member. This took off about 1/4th of the foot and two toes. The person then ran out side, approached an ambulance parked on the side of the road with a patient in it, looked at the driver and said "Im sorry" and shot him self.
He lived for several weeks before the family choose to with hold food and life support. The other person now walks with a cane and is in pain. Due to infection, they lost another toe. The driver of the ambulance states they started going to therapy due to this pushing him past their limits and are now on medication to help them keep working.
Example 7)
A mid-twenties person, engaged with a wedding date. Was hanging out with friends in a neighborhood housing center - aka "Section 8 housing", when someone(s) started shooting at the group they were in, people in the group shot back - including the person - and when it was all done, the person had 8 holes in them, blood covering a lot of sidewalk, and hardly any lung inflated. They made it to the Trauma Center and a year later were in a wheel chair with limited feeling below the waist. The wedding was off, the job was gone, they were on probation for having a gun as a felon, and suffering from extreme nerve pain and bed sores. (where your body starts to rot because you are putting to much pressure on one spot too long)
So many more
I am able to provide this information on these examples because I responded to all of them, and later had follow up contact -court cases, other 911 calls, meeting them at Stop the Violence events, etc. There are many more i've never had the ability to find out if they even lived. (One of the big down sides of EMS, you seldom find out if you were able to do any good, often the only reason you know someone lived is you make another call on them.)
In every case, the gun or a gun that was used was illegally owned or likely bought with out a background check from a private sale. When you look at the numbers, less that 2% of guns used in crimes were bought from sources that do background checks. Less than 30% were stolen, and 60% were bought or given in private transfers. (what is not clear is how many of the 60% were stolen by person A then illegally transferred to person B who then used it in a crime.)
That alone shows the background checks do work. It is not a "restriction" on gun ownership...unless you support letting felons and other criminals having guns. It did not stop the sale of over 16 million + guns from dealers in 2012. It did stop 900,000 sales to prohibited people. (yes, likely many of them went to private sources, and almost none were contacted by police as required by law for attempting to buy a gun illegally.)