Wesley reports seeing considerably more children with gunshot wounds this year
Wesley Healthcare usually sees around four children with gunshot wounds each year and those injuries are typically from hunting accidents, according to pediatric surgeon Dr. Kimberly Molik.
So far this year, Wesley has cared for 14 patients under the age of 16 with gunshot wounds. None are from hunting accidents and all but one are accidental or self-inflicted, according to Wesley Healthcare.
“Of those, four have died and ...five of the survivors have sustained paralysis,” Molik said. “This has become a social crisis in our community and one that may be entirely preventable.”
On Thursday, Wesley Healthcare and the Wichita Police Department announced the “Guns & Kids Don’t Mix” initiative to raise awareness of gun-related injuries involving children. Posters will go out in the community and signs will be on display at Wesley.
The hope is to encourage people to keep guns locked up and separate from ammunition.
Wichita police Officer Kevin Wheeler said the frequency of children being shot accidentally hasn’t seen any alarming changes but the ones Wichita has had are “serious (in) nature and that is concerning.”
Gun violence, on the other hand, has markedly increased.
Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said the department has seen “serious increases in gun violence throughout the city.”
“I know my colleagues nationally are seeing the same thing, where shootings are up,” Ramsay said. “Most if not all major cities have seen significant increases in gun-related homicides and gun-related violence.”
Molik and Ramsay thought the cases involving children being shot could be a result of them being home more during the pandemic. Ramsay mentioned different accidental shootings involving children: A 9-year-old killing a 17-year-old with a shotgun in September and a 4-year-old being seriously injured after climbing on a counter and shooting a gun.
“Sadly, these things are happening all too often and we want to remind people to be responsible with their gun ownership,” he said.
About all gun incidents being up, Ramsay pointed to suicides being up 100% from last year and a boom in people buying guns during the pandemic.
Available data from the FBI, which tracks background checks for firearms, goes back to 1998 and shows that background checks through November this year surpassed any full year on record. Last year’s 28.3 million background checks are the closest figure to this year’s 35.7 million background checks so far.
A National Shooting Sports Foundation study found that 40% of 2020 gun buyers were purchasing for the first time, compared to the annual average of 24%.
“There’s no training required to have firearms,” Ramsay said. “People are learning as they go, so we are seeing these accidental shootings occur (more often).”
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 4:43 PM.