Happy New Year, Doctors!
We have a brand new year and an exciting one at that! Our issues with gun safety and the gun violence crisis will share the spotlight with others in health.
We 400 physician scientists still have a good deal to say about the state and nation’s health.
In 2017 We are hopeful that better data backed by congressional funding of the CDC will inform our science. This, of course, is one of 4 laws that many medical societies supported in the “Call to Action” in the Annals of IM.https://www.acponline.org/acp-newsroom/more-than-two-dozen-organizations-join-call-by-internists-and-others-for-policies-to-reduce-firearm
At year’s end PPGV had two happy events in Michigan. The Ann Arbor School Board (AASB) was victorious in its defense of the right to prevent guns in schools at a hearing before the State Board of Appeals. Several of us heard the court question the plaintiffs and rule unanimously (3-0) against them. No guns in Ann Arbor schools (like no guns at court). Dr. Sonya Lewis’s high school daughter, Sarah, was interviewed on MLive and was passionate about her view that guns were unwanted at school. Listen here. http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/12/gun_advocates_wary_of_oral_arg.html#incart_2box_news_ann-arbor
Hopefully this decision supporting local school boards’ rights will make the law called “preemptive punishment” that was introduced last year harder to reintroduce. That law saddled local entities with court costs if they chose to oppose state law and lost. This punishment would block dissent through the courts in such cases as AASB’s.
And in December we met with Chris Matus, Senator Gary Peters’ Regional Director. We felt we had an excellent meeting. We know that as a new US senator we were getting early attention from a powerful person. Mr. Matus agreed that the public health model is best and that reframing children’s deaths as “preventable, not accidental” is also important. Phone calls to all our representatives are the best value when we advocate. The meeting was attended by Drs. A. Zweifler, C. Farmer, W. Whitehouse, S. Dombey, and J. Walden. Follow-up is planned.
Again, Happy New Year! Thanks for your support of PPGV!
Next meeting Jan 17 at 7 PM. Let us know if you would like to attend.