WHAT is the best way to prevent deaths from gunshot wounds in young people? Show them the harsh reality of gun violence, says trauma chief Edward Cornwell at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Cornwell says that rap videos and other media glamorise gun violence, distorting the reality. While surgical advances have lowered the death rate from head injuries and traffic accidents, there has been no similar improvement when it comes to bullet wounds. 鈥淥ver 70 per cent are dead on arrival,鈥� he says.
So in a recent study, Cornwell鈥檚 team showed photos of actual gunshot victims to about 100 children, aged between 7 and 17, from a poor neighbourhood in Baltimore. The team surveyed the attitudes of half the youths a month later and compared the results with those from before they saw the images. They said they would be less likely to use violence to settle a problem. Cornwell says work is in progress to determine whether this approach could really help prevent gun violence.
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Although the children in the study were African Americans, Cornwell says the problems in the US are not restricted to this community. 鈥淭he biggest consumers of rap videos are white kids.鈥�