A recent study out of Oregon suggests emergency medical responders — EMTs and paramedics — may be treating minority patients differently from the way they treat white patients and that black patients were 40 percent less likely to get pain medication than their white peers.
Public Safety
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In this doctor’s lane, patients live in fear of gun violence
Recently, the American College of Physicians released a position paper urging extensive reform to gun legislation. In response, the NRA issued the following Tweet: “Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves.”
Dear NRA,
I am writing to invite you to join me in my lane. …
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Reflections on synthetic marijuana outbreaks: our own local zombie apocalypse
Imagine chaos, a scene akin to a zombie apocalypse only footsteps away from an Ivy League institution of higher learning: people screaming, fighting, and then suddenly dropping to the ground in convulsions, limbs flailing in all directions. This became reality in downtown New Haven after over 100 people overdosed on synthetic marijuana, “K2,” leaving onlookers in awe and our hospitals in crisis.
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Let Malloy’s veto of the classroom safety bill stand
Gov. Dannel Malloy was correct to veto Public Act No. 18-89 (SB 453), an act concerning classroom safety and disruptive behavior. This bill was wrought with inconsistencies, redundant mandates, and ambiguities that would lead to administrative chaos for districts, schools, and classrooms all across the state. Malloy’s veto allows our lawmakers to complete the difficult task of constructing meaningful and comprehensive legislation during a full session in 2019.
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Universal background checks — Congress, what are you waiting for?
Universal background checks should be federal law at this juncture of our nation’s history. The fact that universal background checks are not mandated can reasonably be described as a failure of representative democracy. In the wake of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, Fla.), it’s reasonable to ask – could a universal background check system have prevented the entire incident?
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Weapons of war do not belong in citizens’ hands
I agree totally with Carol Rizzolo [Connecticut gun laws work, April 6]. Weapons of war do not belong in the hands of our citizenry. The mistaken notion that all who favor banning these weapons want a repeal of the Second Amendment is simply an emotional scare tactic. Connecticut has made great progress in enacting gun safety legislation, but there remains much to do. Our children deserve safety in their schools and we all deserve safe houses of worship, theaters, concert venues and streets.
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Connecticut’s gun laws work
March 24th our students here in Guilford joined students across Connecticut and the nation to address their safety and the menace of irresponsible gun ownership with intelligence and passion. Perhaps it’s time we examine the progress we have made in Connecticut. We have one of the toughest sets of gun safety regulations of any state in the nation.
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Lawmaker: Stricter gun laws haven’t made us safer
Ever since the tragedy at Sandy Hook, I have advocated for constructive and non-partisan solutions to reduce the potential for similar events. Connecticut reacted after that terrible act by passing the strictest gun control laws in the country, including bans on assault rifles, restrictions on magazine capacity, and universal background checks. Irrespective of any other value those policies may have, none of those things have made us even the least bit safer.
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Protecting students: More guns not the answer
President Trump has proposed that the answer to gun violence in schools is to arm teachers and bring guns into the classroom — an idea the vast majority of educators stand firmly against. The President’s plan is meant as a diversion from the real issue: the need for nationwide gun violence prevention laws, additional resources for school safety, and sustained funding for mental health services.
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Remembering the Connecticut Lottery attack
March 6 marks the 20th anniversary of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation massacre in Newington. That Friday, a 35-year-old employee used a knife and gun to kill four bosses. We condemn the actions of the killer, and express deep sympathy for all the victims and survivors. Within hours, gun legislation, and metal detectors were discussed. After 20 years, we still have terrorism and violence — workplace, domestic, military, police, government …and yes, Columbine, Sandy Hook and Stoneman Douglas.
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On guns and gun violence: ‘We have met the enemy and he is us’
Occasional mass shootings inevitably spark debate to do “something” about gun violence. But we haven’t as a nation done well with curtailing illegal drugs, Opiods, auto deaths, gun suicides and inner city gun deaths – 6,000 plus annually. Second, even if the NRA, gun manufacturers, dealers and importers all vanish tomorrow we’d still have over 300 million guns in circulation. And even if we passed a batch of new laws we’d still have 300 million. That’s more than the entire western world combined. So the sheer numbers of guns are one part of the problem.
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Senator, compromise will produce a ‘beautiful’ gun bill
Imagine that. President Trump has asked Sen. Chris Murphy to work with three reasonable legislators in crafting a “comprehensive” gun bill that is to be “very powerful.” Just a few suggestions to the Connecticut senator as he is one of the most far-left members of Congress. The most important thing is this. You will have to give into negotiations with the other senators. But in doing so you may, just may, give the American people a “beautiful” effective bill that the President will sign into law to keep our schools safe.
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Connecticut’s own ‘Second Amendment’
When people debate the legality of gun control legislation, the focus is usually on the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. What many people may not realize, however, is that state constitutions often contain a similar (but not identical) provision. Thus, article first, § 15 of the Connecticut Constitution provides: “Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state.”
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Senators, how about prosecuting more gun crimes?
An open letter to Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy: I watched with interest the comments the two of you made after the recent school shooting event in Florida. I then logically thought about the situation and instead of immediately making a public statement of outrage of having done nothing to protect those kids, I thought that you should have considered these facts before pandering to the voters for yet more gun-control legislation.
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On reducing the self-hatred and alienation of our young men
The young man is alone. He has no friends. He has been expelled from school. He has no relation with his family: they are dead or at least dead to him. He has been told all his life that he is a bad person. He now believes it. He hates himself. And, because he hates himself, he hates everything around him. The world is a giant conspiracy aimed at keeping him down, preventing him from being who he is. Most of all he feels powerless. Nothing he does has any effect on his hated environment.
Except for one thing: his guns.