[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 97 (Friday, July 21, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8101-S8102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GUN SAFETY EDUCATION

  Mr. President, high profile school shootings across this country in 
recent years have focused the Nation's attention on easy access to guns 
by children, especially in the home. Each day in the United States, an 
average of 80 people die as a result of homicide, suicide, and 
unintentional injuries that involve a firearm. Even more tragically ten 
of those who die everyday are children. The epidemic of firearm 
violence affects us all.

[[Page S8102]]

  Steps to Prevent Firearm Injury In the Home, STOP 2, developed by the 
Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, supplies health care providers 
across a wide range of disciplines including nurses, social workers, 
psychologists, health educators, and counselors, with the tools to 
educate diverse populations about the dangers of guns in the home and 
proper gun storage. Health care providers routinely discuss ways to 
prevent many types of injury, such as using child car seats, wearing 
bicycle safety helmets, and locking up prescription drugs. STOP 2 helps 
health care providers incorporate firearm injury prevention along with 
these other safety messages. Health care providers, as important 
messengers of health and safety information, are able to speak with 
patients and their families about the dangers of guns in their own 
homes as well as the homes of relatives or friends they visit. The 
program also assists health care providers in alerting families to the 
typical warning signs of gang involvement and suicide, and outlines 
action steps that can help prevent these possible tragedies.
  STOP 2 expands on the original STOP program, which was launched in 
1994 as a joint effort of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, CPHV, 
and the American Academy of Pediatrics. STOP was designed specifically 
for pediatricians. STOP 2 broadens the program's scope to include other 
health care providers and health educators who work in a wide range of 
disciplines with diverse populations. With funding through the 
Metropolitan Life Foundation, CPHV is providing STOP 2 kits free of 
charge to the health care community. Health care providers can request 
a free STOP 2 kit that contains patient/client brochures, waiting room 
posters, and other gun violence prevention information, by contacting 
the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
  I commend all of those who fight gun violence through safety 
education. Their common sense approach provides parents with practical 
steps to help protect themselves and their families from tragedy. I am 
hopeful that the 109th Congress will do more to support their efforts 
by taking up and passing sensible gun safety legislation.

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