Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Gun Sense discusses toll of gun violence
Speakers present details on economic, cultural impact gun violence has on society
About 35 members of grassroots organization Gun Sense Chester County heard about the economic and cultural impact of gun violence which “aren’t just stories, or names or numbers.”
The program’s goal was to present statistics and firsthand accounts of the cultural toll and financial costs in the aftermath of gun violence, organizer Ann Colby-Cummings said.
“It’s hard to go a day or two without seeing a headline. We often hear about how many have been killed or injured,” ColbyCummings said at the public meeting held Wednesday at Downingtown Friends Meeting. “But this affects us in many ways
beyond the headlines.”
Chester County residents Liz and Joe Loeper lost their son, Jamie Loeper, to gun violence 14 years ago.
Liz last spoke to Jamie when he called on Jan. 3 to wish her a happy birthday. Three days later she received a phone call from a trauma nurse asking their family to go to University of Penn. When they arrived at midnight, Liz thought to herself, “If they don’t put us in a little room, then we’re okay.”
Liz and Joe were asked to wait in a small room and informed their son, who had been shot at point blank, was in surgery. The doctor cried along with Liz and Joe when informed Jamie died. Jamie, 22, graduated from Temple University in 2004 as a political science major, six months prior to his death.
His parents learned from the Philadelphia police that a group of kids came into the pizza shop where Jamie worked and the staff recognized warning signs of trouble. One of his two co-workers, who carried a gun for his protection as a pizza delivery man, pulled out his weapon and the kids dispersed.
“So there wasn’t any trouble,” Joe said. “But unfortunately the fellow with the gun, he mishandled it and it went off and it hit Jamie in his stomach.”
His parents and the police do not believe his death involved malice. The shooting was ruled accidental.
“We need good legislation on licenses, that common ground,” Liz said about gun ownership. “People need to
know how to handle guns.”
Joe noted that there are daily headlines about gun violence. The night before Jamie died was the last time Liz watched the news.
“Those aren’t just stories, or names or numbers, now. They’re people,” Liz said. “You see that and you know what somebody is going through, at least you know how hard it is, and I think that’s because now we understand.”
Dianne Lanham, a retired Emergency Department nurse with experience at Chester County Hospital, has seen victims of murder, suicides and accidental shootings involving children. Lanham believes the access to guns is too easy. She learned that in many cases a child found their parents’ gun.
“The most powerful thing we could do is educate our parents,” Lanham said. “In all the cases I dealt with, the guns were loaded.”
She said the other child who shot another has to live with that and parents are devastated for life.
“When you hold them in your arms and then you put them down and you know you have to go tell the parents, ‘they’re gone, I’m sorry,’” Lanham said, “that is the most heart-wrenching thing you’ll ever experience. Everyone that I did that with, I thought of my own children.”
Lanham helped create a program in 1989 to help first responders and the ER staff to debrief. Still available today, the employees from each field can participate and explain their role. She said it helps them to process what happened and aims to prevent them from developing post-traumatic stress disorder and lessen the impact of the event on those involved.
“It has a tremendous positive impact on those caretakers,” Lanham said.
Retired school teacher and main speaker Lee Dastur presented statistic after statistic to show the financial burden attributed to gun usage.
Those numbers included the $900 million cost for security in schools nationwide and the $1.5 million annual cost for security in just the West Chester Area School District. Tens of billions of dollars are spent on Homeland Security and court cost for those on trial for gun crimes ran $507 million. Victim’s assistance centers cost $3 billion per year and overall prison costs in the state run $2 billion.
Costs for medical care for gunshot survivors ran $229 million on a national level. Dastur also noted that the overall suicide rate has increased by 21 percent over the last 15 years.
Gun Sense Chester County’s mission is to reduce gun violence. The group believes that “common ground is the solution” and welcomes both gun and non-gun owners.
Coatesville resident and gun owner Fred Wright said, “The price tag is probably a lot higher than anybody could imagine.”
Fred Fonseca, of Exton, is also a gun owner and said that he is “heartfelt” for the speakers who exhibited “a great deal of courage.”
For more information, visist www.gunsensecc.com or email gunsensecc@gmail. com.