Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Judge Strikes Down Barrier On 18- To 20-Year-Olds From Buying Handguns
A federal judge in Virginia has declared unconstitutional a set of laws and regulations that prohibit federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds, finding that the measures violated the Second Amendment. ... Gun-control advocates say the decision, if allowed to stand, would significantly increase gun access for a population that research shows is more impulsive and responsible for a disproportionate number of fatal shootings. But attorneys on both sides of the case said they expected the Justice Department to appeal and request a stay, which would prevent Payne鈥檚 ruling from taking effect while higher courts weigh the case. (Rizzo, 5/11)
In other news about the gun violence epidemic 鈥
About a year after a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, a bill has been introduced by a state lawmaker to offer annual training to elementary school children on how to tie tourniquets or pack bleeding wounds during mass-casualty incidents. (Petri, 5/11)
The father of one of the victims of last year鈥檚 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, urged state lawmakers this week to push forward with gun control legislation, arguing that 鈥渋f these laws don鈥檛 change, it鈥檚 gonna keep on happening.鈥 In an interview with CBS News, Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jacklyn was killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting last May, said that it鈥檚 been an 鈥渆motional rollercoaster鈥 since the incident. Cazares has been an advocate for gun control legislation in his home state. (Oshin, 5/11)
Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith was working in an emergency room as a medical student more than four decades ago when she realized that victims of violence were getting treated and then released 鈥 unlike other patients 鈥 without any sort of preventative care. "And one night, at 3:00 in the morning, a young man just very specifically said to me that he was going to go out and cut the guy who cut him," she says. "I thought, this is not adequate. My response is not adequate. My profession's response is not adequate." (Treisman, 5/12)
Maurizio Porfiri spoke to CBS News about the strides his engineering team at New York University has made in understanding gun violence, how engineering and mathematical equations can provide insights into gun violence, and what it means to map America's "firearm ecosystem."
