Gun Shooting

This would never have been a fear of parents during our childhood except maybe during the war. Especially not when it was a public holiday and playing outside the family home with friends on a bicycle.

Dr Kok Chin Leong, President of the Malaysian Paediatric Association 

Shock and disbelief best describes our feelings on hearing the news of a 10 year old boy who was shot through his nose and now warded in the paediatric intensive care unit of Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh, Perak. The bullet is lodged at the back of his skull in between the cervical vertebrae (bones at the nape of the neck) narrowly missing his spinal cord and major blood vessels in the neck.

This would never have been a fear of parents during our childhood except maybe during the war. Especially not when it was a public holiday and playing outside the family home with friends on a bicycle.

Medical school does not prepare one for these sort of urban challenges which may not be uncommon in the west or in the context of a country with lax gun laws and heavy debate on such issues are commonplace. From shooting incidents to accidental “friendly” fire and now this current scenario, we fear that it can only get worse. This is further complicated with the recent “shoot first” statement from the Home Minister.

There is no culprit except negligence here. The concerned policeman ought to have known better. Protectors of the law are armed for a reason and that is to act as a deterrent towards crime prevention rather than for the said weapon to be used for assault. This was not a shoot first, ask later type of case. This was just plain negligence, transgressing all norms of gun care and is simply inexcusable.

We as concerned citizens and paediatricians as well as child protectors ask for better due care and accountability. A review of existing gun laws and the enforcement of more stringent protocols and Standard Operating Procedures of firearms is called for.