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Pediatrician Groups Angry At Supreme Court Decision
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Adolescent Medicine
criticized today’s Supreme Court decision to overturn the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, saying it
undermines efforts to protect children and adolescents from preventable injuries and death.
“As pediatricians, too often we see the terrible toll gun violence takes on its youngest victims,” said AAP
President Renée R. Jenkins, MD, FAAP. “Today’s Supreme Court decision is a tragedy for children, taking
away a critical law needed to fight a public health threat that needlessly claims as many as eight young lives a
day in America. We can’t afford to lose any of the tools that can help keep guns out of the reach of children.”
Earlier this year, AAP and SAM, along with three other organizations dedicated to protecting the health and
safety of children, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the District’s handgun law.
“The Society for Adolescent Medicine believes that firearm violence is one of the most serious threats to the
health of adolescents in the United States,” said SAM President Richard E. Kreipe, MD. “For that reason, the
Society supports laws to reduce the availability of handguns, the primary source of firearm injuries among
adolescents.”
The ban, one of the strongest in the nation, made it illegal to own handguns in the District. It also required
shotgun and rifle owners to unload and disassemble them, or use a trigger lock, if the weapons were kept at
home. A lower court overturned the ban in March 2007, prompting the Supreme Court challenge.
In the wake of today’s decision, AAP and SAM urged parents across the United States to take steps to protect
their children from firearm violence, including locking up weapons stored at home. “The best way to truly
protect children from firearm injuries is to get guns out of their homes, their neighborhoods and where they
play,” Jenkins said. “If we don’t, too many children will continue to be hurt or die needlessly.”
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