Representative Simpson,
I have three children in school. I pray often that as they
go about their school day, they'll be safe themselves and be kept safe.
But I look at school shootings like the recent one in
Florida and I know prayers are not enough.
If there were a quick solution to this problem, it wouldn't
be a problem. But we can start somewhere. The folks at 99% Invisible recently
created a podcast outlining the decades-long push to use data, science, and
cooperation from industry and politicians to make the cars we drive and the
roads we drive on more safe. Key to that safety push was the creation of a
database that tracked automobile accidents and the injuries they caused.
Such a database on gun-related injuries and deaths would be
a good first step toward perhaps making guns safer, and workplaces and schools
safer from those who misuse guns. However, political and lobbying will has
thusfar made such a database illegal in the United States.
I'm confident if I sent my children to school in a car --
our oldest drives now -- they would be relatively safe if they were in an
accident, because of the long history of safety in the auto industry, that was
aided by a database that collected information without names to allow engineers
the chance to see what was causing fatalities and injuries in car crashes.
I'd like to see you advocate for a national gun-safety
database, similar to the one used for automobile safety. That alone will not
solve the problem we face as a nation, but it would be a good first step.
Sincerely,
Brian Davidson
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