Guns, Our Shared Responsibility… Quote from New York Times article by Barack Obama
Gun violence in a dysfunctional home with a parent who suffers from post-trauma stress
“Nearly 800 children under 14 were killed in gun accidents from 1999 to 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly one in five injury-related deaths in children and adolescents involve firearms.”
I have an old boomer friend, Dave, who grew up in a home where the father suffered from severe post-traumatic stress while serving in hard combat during WWII. When his father retired from the US Navy, he started a second career as a 1st responder and carried a gun. The first gun violence and safety incident happened when the father came home from work and left his gun lying on the bed. The youngest son and brother, Skip, a toddler at the time, got on the bed and accidently pulled the trigger…the bullet fortunately penetrated the mattress and the child was not hurt. Later the same father came home angry with my friend, Dave, and his brother, Jim, who were teens at the time, and threatened the two of them by shaking his gun and pointing it at the two teen boys. Their mother pulled the father away and may have saved her sons from death or injury. To this day, my friend fears guns and is triggered by memories of these incidents during his young adult life so very long ago. Can’t we do more?
Steve Sparks, Author, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story and My Journey of Healing in Life After Trauma, Part 1&2… Click the highlighted text for my author page.
