By Dr. Shawn Safford

I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, where firearms were part of daily life. My earliest memories were not of fear, but of tradition — deer season with family, careful lessons about responsibility, and the unspoken understanding that a gun was never something to be taken lightly.

Those values of respect and responsibility still guide me today as both a firearm owner and a pediatric surgeon.

But in the operating room, I now see what happens when those values break down.

I have cared for children who were shot while sitting on their porch, children struck by stray bullets that weren’t even meant for them, and teenagers whose lives were cut short by a single pull of a trigger.

I’ve walked out of operating rooms to tell parents their child didn’t make it, and I’ve watched

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