Mass shootings and issues of access to firearms and other weapons continue to be at the center of a national dialogue. Gun-related deaths are the second leading cause of mortality in children and adolescents. One pervasive stereotype is that it is racial and ethnic minority individuals who are more likely to carry weapons and even bring them to school . This month we are releasing a study by Jewett et al (10.1542/peds.2020-049623) that contradicts this racist prejudice and is a must-read for us to process and share with others.
The authors used data from the 1992-2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System to look at the self-reported weapon carrying of boys across the United States and whether they felt safe at their schools. The good news is that weapon-carrying has declined over two decades and this decline occurred regardless of race or ethnicity. Across the entire time period, white male youths who were more likely to bring weapons into the schools than Non-Hispanic Black/African American or Hispanic boys. However, racist prejudice have us as a society more concerned about weapon carrying by Black teenage males.
How can we use the findings in the Jewett study to focus on directing the gun-control efforts to where they need to be directed—i.e. toward the white males carrying weapons into schools they view as safe and not at risk for violence? To answer that question, we invited Dr. Rhea Boyd from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and a staunch advocate for dismantling structural racism and to share her thoughts in an accompanying commentary (10.1542/peds.2021-050314). Dr. Boyd calls us all to action to confront white supremacy enabling white people to have disproportionate access to firearms, asks each of us as pediatricians to advocate for stricter gun control legislation, and to reconsider the risks of increasing the presence of police in our school. Dr. Boyd notes that freeing up resources by decreasing school policing could channel funds into strength-building programs to improve the emotional, social, and physical well-being of all children—but especially children of color. Both this study and commentary are key to unlearning the biases and prejudices that sadly permeate this country—so link to them and then share the findings and Dr. Boyd’s commentary with all.
