Healthcare is impacted by gun violence. It not only costs the system money but costs us lives and is responsible for some of our lost life expectancy. An opinion piece in JAMA Network Open considers bullets as a metaphorical pathogen.
“We need public policies to diminish the risk of bullets from entering humans by treating them as agents of injury and death, not as inert objects that do no harm.”
While I have real problems with the practicalities of adding gun violence to the growing list of social determinants of health the health system must overcome, the metaphorical lens does provide insight.
Bullets as Pathogen—The Need for Public Health and Policy Approaches
While on the topic, we should speak about ghost guns. The “receiver” is that portion of the firearm that is registered, the part with the serial number. It is shockingly easy how this part can be DIY printed and that the DIY community has significantly improved their design.
“In the 24 hours since police released a photo of what they say is Mangione’s gun following the 26-year-old’s arrest Monday, the online community devoted to 3D-printed firearms has been quick to identify the suspected murder weapon as a particular model of printable “ghost gun”—a homemade weapon with no serial number, created by assembling a mix of commercial and DIY parts. The gun appears to be a Chairmanwon V1, a tweak of a popular partially 3D-printed Glock-style design known as the FMDA 19.2—an acronym that stands for the libertarian slogan ‘Free Men Don’t Ask.’”
From Wired, The ‘Ghost Gun’ Linked to Luigi Mangione Shows Just How Far 3D-Printed Weapons Have Come
I was raised in LA when Dragnet was more a reality program than a weekly crime show; I have lived in New York during stop-and-frisk, broken windows, defund the police, and cashless bail. Despite now living in the far ‘burbs, I am conversant about crime.
“Long sentences might be useful if they deterred crime — that is, if the threat of a harsh punishment provided a meaningful incentive to obey the law. But research consistently shows that increasing the probability of getting caught is far more effective. Most would-be offenders are probably not thinking very far ahead, which means the chance they’d be arrested weighs far more than the details of any future imprisonment.
But right now, the probability of getting caught across the United States is low and falling. Clearance rates — in simplified terms, the number of arrests per reported offenses — were just 41 percent for violent crimes (including homicide) in 2023. For property crimes such as burglary and theft that same year, clearance rates were a miserable 14 percent. A vast majority of people who commit a crime get away with it.” [emphasis added]
From the NY Times, What Republicans and Democrats Get Wrong About Crime
Finally, on a more uplifting note.
Sometime near the end of the pandemic, I purchased an Ooni Pizza Oven, and then my wife got me, as a present, Modernist Cuisine’s Pizza. I suspect I am only one of a few hundred who have read Volume I of the three-volume series cover to cover. So, this story is singing my song.
“Violinists have the Stradivarius. Sneakerheads have the Air Jordan 1. Pizza degenerates like me have the Ooni. I got my first one three years ago and have since been on a singular, pointless quest to make the best pie possible. Unfortunately, I am now someone who knows that dough should pass the windowpane test. Do not get me started on the pros and cons of Caputo 00 flour.”
From The Atlantic, No One Has to Settle for Bad Pizza Anymore
Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA
Director of Medicine
Dr. Charles Dinerstein, M.D., MBA, FACS is Director of Medicine at the American Council on Science and Health. He has over 25 years of experience as a vascular surgeon.
