My personal experience with guns is close to zero, except for coveting (and never receiving) a Daisy Red Ryder air rifle when I was about twelve years old. Otherwise, I’ve never held, much less shot, either a rifle or a handgun, nor have I ever been in a situation where I might have muttered, “If I only had a gun.”.

Any doctor who gets his training in an urban environment will certainly see his share of what bullets can do to the human body. I spent many nights at Cook County Hospital (now Stroger), either in the emergency room removing bullets from arms and legs, or scrubbed in surgery second assisting surgeons repairing someone who’d been ‘gutshot’, or signing a death certificate on a murder or a suicide.

The medical abbreviation for a gunshot wound is ‘GSW’ and a typical note might read, “GSW right chest vital signs stable taken to OR 11:15 PM”. Many of these victims you read about don’t have health insurance. A recent study estimated the cost to the U.S. healthcare system to treat gunshot wounds is $170 billion a year with $16 billion in surgical operations alone.

Although I’m a Chicagoan to the core, for a while I did practice in rural Minnesota. No gang violence of course, but a sampling of hunting accidents (“I thought Bill was a deer”), homicidal domestic violence, and two or three suicides.

But this Health Tip is about you and your longevity.