“I should have strapped a GoPro camera to my head and shown the world what we were seeing in those early days of Covid,” a New York ER doctor told me last year. “I would’ve been fired, but it would have been worth it. Think of all the lives I would have saved.”
Remember Emmett Till. His mother wanted everyone to see what they did to her boy. I still feel the heartbreak. Could profound sorrow and horror change the minds of families with guns? If victim families want the images published, and news outlets refuse, who are the news outlets protecting? Emmett Till’s mother saw exposure as the path to justice.
As always you approach very difficult subjects with care, honesty, humility and professionalism and I wish more people did the same. I can not speak to what you and first responders have faced, as a mom it is so incredibly painful to imagine. As a teacher what I think would have a great impact on those who make our laws is the following: Every single lawmaker should have to participate in an active shooter drill. We have a sack full of lollipops to help with the tears as we sit quietly with a classroom of children. I have sang songs and prayed quietly while the school was on lockdown because an armed robber was close to campus. To watch teachers try and not show fear as we are quickly guiding 15-20 students into a “safe” place, sitting in meetings on when to stay and hide or when to literally toss children out the window and get them to safety will make you realize how your vote could save a life.
While the points raised are excellent, I'm skeptical that showing the images will have an effect. People in other countries did not need images to conclude from mass shootings, that they need to tighten gun control laws, like New Zealand.
Similarly, hearing and reading about sickness and death was enough for people in many countries to implement and adhere to COVID control measures. Whether countries did so, seems more correlated with the value their residents assign to a human life than with seeing or not seeing graphic images.
If we look at COVID deaths in Canada versus the US, 2 neighboring high-resource countries, that becomes very apparent.
I see your point. And this is why I'm not "all in" on this idea. There's a part of me that worries that if we did this, we would just become desensitized to those awful images too. The big question is, what can we learn from those other nations? Can we apply what they have done here? I'd like to think so...
Very thought provoking points. I've taken care of enough gun shot wound victims-last one was 6 years old, accidentally shot by his father who became very hostile around any discussions of even locking up his guns. (It was low calliber and the child was "only" shot in the arm, smdh)
I don't need to see the pictures but if there were a way to target those who oppose assault weapon bans, I'd be all in.
Thank you for sharing this. It's so tragic when this happens. While we spend a lot of emotional energy on mass casualty events, your example is where so many saves are possible. It's a great example of how outcomes can change with safety measures. Home storage is a big issue that is very solvable.
Maybe 10 or 20 years ago more graphic coverage might have made a difference. People now would just claim they were staged scenes or character actors. The same way they do when they see most war reporting coming out of Ukraine or Palestine or Israel.
I know for this generation any noise that sounds like a gun will always resonate on a gut level and I guess for the generation prior it will be the Twin Towers falling. For me growing up in the 60's and '70s it will always be military planes -- bomb drills a la Cuban missile crisis as well as fire drills at school and images every night of Vietnamese children in napalm burned villages on the 6 pm news, war planes in the sky.
Maybe if every newscast started with a monotone list of every mass shooting (I think it means more than 3 dead) of the day with a link to that local story and stopped sensationalizing and trading on the clicks. I dunno. With all the guns out there, I kinda think it's like shutting the barn door after the horses are out.
Yes, or photoshop/deep fakes. At some point, more of the images we see will be fake than real. I wonder what that will do to us and our ability to process facts. People believe images that confirm their biases, no matter how obviously fake they are.
Your comment reminds me of how the PBS News Hour used to read the names of dead soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. This was not an anti-war message per se, but it was a reminder of the costs.
I have long thought that graphic photos of the murdered children at Sandy Hook could have changed minds about the availability of guns, especially automatic weapons. Then President Obama seemed broken after this shooting, especially when gun control measures failed to pass the Senate. In addition, I feel for all first responders, and how you all deal with the horror.
Just think if the average person could see the effects of a disease or an AR attack but could also smell the effects. For me...if I am ever hospitalized for either, feel free to share photos and my story with the world. It is the only thing with any chance of breaking through "the brush off".
With all due respect, I did not advocate for any legal changes related to gun freedom here. This is about transparency, informing the public so that they can make choices about where we want these weapons to be and where they should not be. And while I did not write this, you correctly intuited that I do believe there is some small fraction (likely way under 1%) of people who should not have access to at least certain types of these weapons, or who at least should have to go through some more vetting than many places require.
Remember Emmett Till. His mother wanted everyone to see what they did to her boy. I still feel the heartbreak. Could profound sorrow and horror change the minds of families with guns? If victim families want the images published, and news outlets refuse, who are the news outlets protecting? Emmett Till’s mother saw exposure as the path to justice.
This is such an important point. His mother was brave to choose that path and I certainly imagine this made an impact.
As always you approach very difficult subjects with care, honesty, humility and professionalism and I wish more people did the same. I can not speak to what you and first responders have faced, as a mom it is so incredibly painful to imagine. As a teacher what I think would have a great impact on those who make our laws is the following: Every single lawmaker should have to participate in an active shooter drill. We have a sack full of lollipops to help with the tears as we sit quietly with a classroom of children. I have sang songs and prayed quietly while the school was on lockdown because an armed robber was close to campus. To watch teachers try and not show fear as we are quickly guiding 15-20 students into a “safe” place, sitting in meetings on when to stay and hide or when to literally toss children out the window and get them to safety will make you realize how your vote could save a life.
While the points raised are excellent, I'm skeptical that showing the images will have an effect. People in other countries did not need images to conclude from mass shootings, that they need to tighten gun control laws, like New Zealand.
Similarly, hearing and reading about sickness and death was enough for people in many countries to implement and adhere to COVID control measures. Whether countries did so, seems more correlated with the value their residents assign to a human life than with seeing or not seeing graphic images.
If we look at COVID deaths in Canada versus the US, 2 neighboring high-resource countries, that becomes very apparent.
I see your point. And this is why I'm not "all in" on this idea. There's a part of me that worries that if we did this, we would just become desensitized to those awful images too. The big question is, what can we learn from those other nations? Can we apply what they have done here? I'd like to think so...
Very thought provoking points. I've taken care of enough gun shot wound victims-last one was 6 years old, accidentally shot by his father who became very hostile around any discussions of even locking up his guns. (It was low calliber and the child was "only" shot in the arm, smdh)
I don't need to see the pictures but if there were a way to target those who oppose assault weapon bans, I'd be all in.
Thank you for sharing this. It's so tragic when this happens. While we spend a lot of emotional energy on mass casualty events, your example is where so many saves are possible. It's a great example of how outcomes can change with safety measures. Home storage is a big issue that is very solvable.
Maybe 10 or 20 years ago more graphic coverage might have made a difference. People now would just claim they were staged scenes or character actors. The same way they do when they see most war reporting coming out of Ukraine or Palestine or Israel.
I know for this generation any noise that sounds like a gun will always resonate on a gut level and I guess for the generation prior it will be the Twin Towers falling. For me growing up in the 60's and '70s it will always be military planes -- bomb drills a la Cuban missile crisis as well as fire drills at school and images every night of Vietnamese children in napalm burned villages on the 6 pm news, war planes in the sky.
Maybe if every newscast started with a monotone list of every mass shooting (I think it means more than 3 dead) of the day with a link to that local story and stopped sensationalizing and trading on the clicks. I dunno. With all the guns out there, I kinda think it's like shutting the barn door after the horses are out.
Yes, or photoshop/deep fakes. At some point, more of the images we see will be fake than real. I wonder what that will do to us and our ability to process facts. People believe images that confirm their biases, no matter how obviously fake they are.
Your comment reminds me of how the PBS News Hour used to read the names of dead soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. This was not an anti-war message per se, but it was a reminder of the costs.
I have long thought that graphic photos of the murdered children at Sandy Hook could have changed minds about the availability of guns, especially automatic weapons. Then President Obama seemed broken after this shooting, especially when gun control measures failed to pass the Senate. In addition, I feel for all first responders, and how you all deal with the horror.
Sadly, I think I agree. But it’s not our call per se.
And yes; there’s a quote out there about how Sandy Hook was the de facto end of the debate. 😢
Very thoughtful and thought-provoking as always, Jeremy. Thank you so much.
Just think if the average person could see the effects of a disease or an AR attack but could also smell the effects. For me...if I am ever hospitalized for either, feel free to share photos and my story with the world. It is the only thing with any chance of breaking through "the brush off".
This is anti-gun people preaching to anti-gun people. Get out and talk to those who are open-minded on gun freedom.
With all due respect, I did not advocate for any legal changes related to gun freedom here. This is about transparency, informing the public so that they can make choices about where we want these weapons to be and where they should not be. And while I did not write this, you correctly intuited that I do believe there is some small fraction (likely way under 1%) of people who should not have access to at least certain types of these weapons, or who at least should have to go through some more vetting than many places require.