I’m going to start by apologizing to pro-gun physicians everywhere. I’m probably going to have to generalize in what follows, but I want it clearly stated that I know you guys exist and little to nothing of what follows applies to you guys.
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To those physicians who take a more neutral stance on guns in your practice and your lives, should you read this, the same goes for you.
But for the others, well, there’s a reason why I say people shouldn’t listen to your anti-gun advocacy. Some of that gets highlighted in a piece from a surgeon who penned the op-ed titled, “I’ve operated on far too many kids harmed by guns.”
We already know where this doctor is going with this.
As a surgeon, I have witnessed firsthand the devastating physical effects that gunshot wounds can inflict on a child’s body. A bullet is not just a small piece of metal — it’s a destructive force that shatters bones, tears through tissues, and disrupts vital organs. A single bullet can cause multiple injuries, each of which can be life-threatening. The damage is not just physical; it’s emotional and psychological, affecting the child, their family and their community for years to come.
When a bullet enters the body, it doesn’t travel in a straight line. It tumbles and fragments, leaving behind a trail of destruction. It can lacerate blood vessels, causing catastrophic bleeding. It can puncture the lungs, making it impossible to breathe. It can destroy the delicate tissues of the liver, kidneys or heart — organs essential for life. The energy from a bullet can cause bones to shatter like glass, sending fragments in all directions and creating a secondary wave of injury.
These are the harsh realities I face in the trauma bay, and they are heartbreaking. I have looked into the eyes of parents as they wait, desperate for news, hoping against hope that their child will survive. Too often, the news is devastating.
But the impact of gun injuries extends beyond the trauma bay and the hospital room. When a child is lost to gun violence, the tragedy ripples through the entire community. It affects everyone — from friends and classmates to neighbors and teachers. Schools, meant to be safe havens of learning and growth, are often places where the loss is felt most deeply. As a father, I want nothing more than for our children to attend school and feel safe, to play on playgrounds without fear, and to grow up in a world in which their biggest worry is passing the next math test — not surviving the school day.
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Here’s the thing that bothers me about so many doctors who step into the world of gun control advocacy. They relay their experiences as a doctor and argue that it’s evidence that gun control is needed.
But they’re also only seeing one side of the coin.
I have no doubt this surgeon has operated on young gunshot victims, among other victims of traumatic injury. I have no doubt that the gunshot victims hit him particularly hard, as they would anyone.
The issue is that he sees that, looks at heavily biased statistics, and never asks any of the critical questions.
For example, where did the gun come from? I know he mentions unsecured firearms, but those don’t even account for one percent of the total number of shootings each year. It’s an issue that people need to address in their homes so it doesn’t happen to them, but it doesn’t account for a significant number.
That means most of his patients are the victims of criminal actions. In most of those cases, the guns were illegally acquired, which means they’re already bypassing gun control laws. Why would more gun control laws impact that?
But it doesn’t matter, because so many doctors are essentially traumatized by their patients. They see this horrific thing come across their tables and they have to treat the patient, but then they do the very doctor-like thing to try and prevent that from happening again. Yet they fall into the typical trap of not really delving into what’s happening and thinking about it critically.
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They’re experts in treating the human body, but that doesn’t necessarily give them insight into anything beyond that.
Additionally, they’re people. They get emotional, and a kid needing surgery because he or she got shot is going to be emotional. That’s where that trauma comes from.
It’s just too bad that they never realize the millions of kids they never see because someone has a gun. That happens a lot more than our good doctor here would have you believe, but doctors only see one side of the coin. They only see what the worse in society do–the worst who won’t be deterred by gun control laws.
So yeah, this is why we shouldn’t worry too much about what anti-gun doctors have to say. They don’t really know more than anyone else on the topic and are more likely to be driven by bias in looking into the situation than a dispassionate person might be.
