Public stress in pandemic increases need to focus on gun safety, awareness | Opinion

As the shock and novelty of the COVID-19 pandemic wears off, we are now thick into what researchers call Disillusionment Phase: People feeling stuck, hopeless, disconnected and anxious.

We are struggling with stress from social, financial or health pressures, or all of the above. To add to the misery, massive protests and riots triggered by the death of George Floyd have broken out in nearly every big city in America, plus our own state’s smaller ones. We all want to move forward to a better place to heal social injustice and our health.

But tucked within this crisis is a second, also menacing one: gun violence. Yes, crime rates have dropped significantly during COVID-19 — but gun deaths have increased.

A security guard at a Family Dollar store took a bullet in the head for insisting customers wear masks. A man on a Texas bus who was asked to step off for not following COVID restrictions shot the passenger who confronted him. And just in the past few days, gun violence has claimed the lives of dozens of citizens throughout the nation.

The Wall Street Journal reported that domestic violence has increased during the pandemic, and having a firearm in the house and prior abuse have been the biggest predictors of domestic homicide.

As physicians in the Public Health Committee of Arm-in-Arm, a South Carolina grassroots nonprofit formed after the Mother Emanuel murders in 2015 to help reduce gun violence, we want to stress the vital need for a heightened awareness of the potential danger of unsecured guns during this national health crisis.

Well Being Trust and the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine warns that the pandemic could lead to 75,000 more “deaths of despair” from suicide and drug or alcohol misuse over a typical year.

Research shows that having access to a gun triples one’s risk of death by suicide. Approximately 90% of suicide attempts with firearms end in death compared to only 4% of suicide attempts being fatal using other means.

As the pandemic and social unrest waxes and wanes and the country opens and closes during the months ahead, we can’t afford to let down our guard.

Mayors of many cities are being warned that gun violence may increase once lockdowns are lifted and the warmer months bring people outside, predicts Professor Christopher Herrmann at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Just as our country has taken measures to reduce alcohol-related automobile deaths, tobacco deaths and now coronavirus deaths, we can take sensible steps to reduce gun violence while continuing to support the Second Amendment during this period of extreme national stress and instability.

1) Make sure all guns are locked and stored safely and separately from ammunition.

2) Do not leave a gun in an unlocked car.

3) Remove guns from the home of someone who is severely depressed or suicidal.

4) Seek mental health counseling if someone is threatening to harm himself or others.

5) Ensure children, who also are experiencing stress, have no access to guns.

6) Oppose Open Carry laws currently before the South Carolina legislature.

7) Support Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) that can help remove guns from imminently dangerous citizens.

8) Support universal background checks.

American ingenuity has diminished societal threats in the past. In South Carolina, we can and must do it again.

Emotional Wellbeing and Staying Safe During COVID-19 resources:

▪ The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: suicidepreventionlifeline.org; 1-800-273-8255 or TTY 1-800-799-4889.

▪ The National Domestic Violence Hotline thehotline.org: 1−800−799−7233 or TTY 1−800−787−3224.

▪ NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness: nami.org; in South Carolina, namisc.org

▪ SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) samhsa.gov/findhelp/national-helpline; 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or TTY 1-800-487-4889.

▪ SCCADVASA (South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault): sccadvasa.org/contact-us; sccadvasa.org/Get-Help.

Sally Smith, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Charleston and chairwoman of Arm-in-Arm’s Public Health Committee, www.arminarmsc.org: Richard Hagerty, M.D., Robert Ball, M.D., Mary Hart Bryan, M.D., Adam Smolka, Ph.D., Lisa Dubois, M.A, Joe John, M.D., Timothy West, M.D.