American guns and public health and hope.

America is not a hostage to itself in the battle over how to handle guns. We are able to change. The evening after another massacre, the word weary for being trotted out month over month, I'll make an appeal.With the will, we can get better.Our current president dismissed the Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the first in the position to declare gun violence a public health issue. Like HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and tobacco in the 1960s, the Surgeon General can be the first political officer to acknowledge a public health disaster. This should not be a controversial position...I'll quote from Healthcare Triage, which has a very worthwhile primer on gun death stats:There is evidence to show that a gun-loving nation can be made less violent. You may know the history of our fellow former colony (and the only place where you can make a grittier western than home) Australia, and it's remarkable policy-driven turn around addressing gun violence. Through compulsory buy-backs, stricter regulations, and cutting off the flow of new guns among other measures, the country responded to a harrowing mass shooting with sweeping policy change that turned their gun violence trajectory upside down. Sure, they are more than ten times smaller than the US. But in most all measures they are our closest comparator. There is no reason that their success could not be seeded here.No reason not counting money and gun makers and, most important, political will. All of this is just to say we're selling ourselves short with thoughts and prayers and other things offered in the face of hopelessness. We can get better.