To the NRA...
How about you stay in your lane?Â
Let me tell you about my encounters with gun violence.
February 14, 2008 - gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at the Northern Illinois University. The exact lecture hall my sister was in maybe an hour prior to the mass shooting. Months of anticipation as violence and gun threats showed up all around the university.Â
Just a few years ago, an eighth grade student brought a gun to school with intentions to shoot it. My brother’s school got evacuated.Â
Just last year, at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, there was a suspected gunman on campus in the law building...across the street from my brother’s dorm building.
And just 2 months ago, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Where I fell in love with emergency medicine. Where I saw a 17 year old boy accidentally shoot himself in the thigh while stepping off the CTA bus. It was not clear whether he was ditching school or not....or why he had a gun in his waistband while riding public transportation.. Nothing was clear.Â
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You see, I didn’t see many GSWs during my time in the ED. However, GSWs are amongst the most prominent ED admissions all across the city of Chicago. As someone that wants to go into emergency medicine pharmacy, this is very much my lane. When the patient is losing blood and needs a transfusion, this is our lane. When the their BP is crashing and we need to titrate the pressors, this is my lane. When you just have to control the screams and cries with medications, this is my lane. To have a team to work to prevent another gun shot wound statistic in the city of Chicago, this is a team effort and everybody’s lane.Â
So please. Hold your soap box. Gun control is necessary. And gun control has to be considered and the the consequences don’t get tended to by the NRA. The NRA is not running transfusions, not titrating drips, not fishing bullets out of flesh. So yeah, this is very much our lane and we would like to stay put.Â
