MONEY

Public health expert: Guns in parks, arenas a step 'backward'

Holly Fletcher
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

The movie theater shooting in Antioch raises concerns that public shootings could become more common under recent legislation to allow guns in parks, and potentially in arenas and stadiums, public health experts say.

Gov. Bill Haslam signed the so-called "guns-in-parks" legislation this year. The measure prohibits local cities and counties from banning people with valid gun permits from taking their weapons to public parks; people are still prohibited from taking weapons in the vicinity of school events.

There is concern that a recent opinion by the state attorney general indicated the law could allow concealed carry permit holders to take guns into other venues, including arenas and stadiums where the Titans and Predators play and major concerts take place.

Allowing guns into crowded places where alcohol is served raises the concern that shootings could become more common, said Dr. Jonathan Metzl, director of the Center for Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt University. Alcohol consumption or use of other substances increases the risk of a shooting five to seven times, he said.

“On one hand, if we take the frame of public health, there is a pretty good body of evidence on what we need to do as a society to prevent shootings. In some instances, it seems we’re going directly backward in Tennessee,” Metzl said. “We know from a growing body of research everyday shootings happen more when there’s more access to guns.”

The Wednesday shooting, at an afternoon showing of "Mad Max" at a Carmike Hickory 8 in a suburb of Nashville, is one more tally in a summer of shootings.

Samuel Bieler, a research associate at The Urban Institute, said shootings are more common in the summer when people are out and temperatures are high.

There also is a higher likelihood shootings will happen in places where guns are more prevalent, Metzl said.

State lawmakers proposed many gun-related bills during the legislative session, although the guns-in-parks measure emerged notorious and successful.

Haslam has said the legislature may want to revisit the act in the next session, particularly if guns make it into sporting or entertainment events.

House Majority Whip Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, said: "It doesn’t matter what law that we pass, the bad guys are not going to follow it."

Metzl said it's important to strike a balance between protecting citizens' Second Amendment rights and structuring responsible public health policy.

The recent law is "going against a lot of literature," Metzl said. "From a public health perspective, to stop everyday violence, you'd want to keep (guns) out of places where people are drinking. That would include bars, stadiums and arenas."

The hospital response

Emergency departments are prepared. Hospitals drill and prepare regularly for mass casualty incidents, said Dr. Corey Slovis, chairman of emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Hospital emergency rooms respond within minutes of being alerted about a mass casualty situation or a disaster, Slovis said. Vanderbilt can mobilize more than 100 doctors on top of those on shift in five to 15 minutes.

The trauma team was preparing for patients when Slovis left the hospital to go to the shooting scene in Antioch. He pronounced the suspect dead and went back to the hospital. No victims were transported to the hospital.

Response strategies have evolved as the country experienced more shootings, starting with the Columbine school shooting in 1999, Slovis said. 

"Whether it's a tornado, gunman, gunmen or bomb, hospitals get ready quickly," said Slovis, noting that if needed, elective surgeries are delayed to prepare for emergency situations.

"No city can be prepared for everything. Having said that, police, fire, EMS and hospitals really work well together in Nashville," said Slovis, also the medical director for the Nashville Fire Department and Nashville International Airport. "There's just that spirit of cooperation. We have three different hospital systems. They all come together as one."

 Reporter Dave Boucher contributed to this report. Reach Holly Fletcher at 615-259-8287 and on Twitter @hollyfletcher.