STANFORD (KRON) — Pediatric surgeon Stephanie Chao is among the Stanford doctors and medical students who announced Monday that they are taking a stand against what they say is a firearms epidemic in America today.
“Because the ones who are often hurt are not the bad guys but rather family members and children,” Chao said. “So if people want to keep a gun in the home, they should learn how to keep it safely.”
Banners were unfurled at more than 40 locations across the country Monday as prominent physicians and medical students and other health care providers joined forces to create what’s being called “safe scrubs addressing the firearms epidemic.”
“For as much as these mass shootings draw our attention, and they should mind you, if we want to make a dent in the level of lives that are lost to gun violence, then we have to start thinking about suicides and non-mass homicides and provide them with the attention that they require,” said Dr. Kamaal Jones, pediatric resident.
At an afternoon symposium on gun violence, Jones emphasized that mass shootings represent a small fraction of the gun violence in America today.
The doctors and students are supporting specific legislation and other measures designed to promote responsible gun ownership and restrictions on assault rifles and other weapons of war.
“It means modeling responsible behavior around guns, it means better government infrastructure so we can keep guns out of the hands of those who would harm themselves,” Chao said. “And it means keeping weapons of mass destruction like assault rifles out of our communities.”