Two Firearms Purchases in March 2007

If the news of the past week isn’t enough to clarify the need for gun control or more expansive regulation of firearm purchases in the United States isn’t enough, I don’t know what is.

Two people purchased handguns in two US states in the month of March 2007.  One, an obviously very disturbed young college student used his to kill thirty-two people, mostly fellow students, in Virginia the to shoot and kill himself.   The second purchaser, in Texas, used his new weapon to murder a coworker over a poor performance evaluation then take his own life.

The former has received monumental press coverage, consistent with its monumental horror…the largest mass killing in US history.  The second, well I don’t know how much national press coverage it’s received.  I heard about it on NPR and don’t pay attention to the “popular” press.   But it is of equal importance in my mind.

Both of these men, one 23 years old, the other in his 60’s, made their purchases in March of this year, less than two months before their rampages.  Both of them apparently presented the appearance of someone who is psychologically eligible to own a gun in the US.  And both of them used their purchases to take the lives of other, innocent people.

How many lives must we sacrifice before we realize that the ready access to guns, particularly hand guns, in the US is a bad idea?

I wish I could provide firm statistics for gun violence but the internet is just so full of information on the subject I simply can’t weed it out right now.  As a reference, I recommend viewing Bowling for Columbine.  I know it’s slanted toward gun control but it presents some interesting views…just the difference between life in the US and life in Canada (where gun ownership is far less widespread) is compelling.

Bottom line is that this is one nurse’s view of how guns impact us all in our country, whether we are direct victims or merely Americans who used to sleep with their doors unlocked and now can’t rest peacefully without a dead bolt.   There has got to be a better way, America.

On my other site…

…I posted the following. Since I thought is was so chock-full of the useful information I try to pass on to my patients, I thought I’d post it here, as my first, official Snarky Harpy at WordPress entry.

With no further ado, I present:

Dear “Tooth Abscess Keflex”

You stopped by this site on Saturday or Sunday using those words as your search term.

I hope you had some fun while you were here but I doubt you found the answer to your query.

Disclaimer: The following information is given for its anecdotal value only and is not meant to be perceived as offering medical advice or practicing my profession. In other words, I’m warning you to take this at your own risk and, if you get fucked up as a result and think about suing my fucking ass, you can kiss my rosy ass.

Anyway, “tooth abscess keflex,” I have learned in my experience as an ER nurse that the large majority of physicians I’ve worked with like to prescribe Keflex for skin wounds. Apparently, it covers a lot of the bacteria that regularly colonize the skin.

For dental problems, they usually prescribe a penicillin, usually Pen-Vee K. If Pen-Vee K doesn’t do the trick, they usually move to Clindamycin. I’ve seen my oral surgeon do just that when I had a mandibular cellulitis last summer. Unfortunately, Clindamycin is a very potent antibiotic which can nearly sterilize the gut, so developing Clostridium difficile following a course of Clinda is a distinct possibility if your bowel contains c. diff.

If you are a woman, any of the ‘cillin’s can interfere with hormonal contraceptives. If you use the pill, patch, Depo, etc, you’ll need to use barrier contraceptives (condom or diaphragm) for the duration of the therapy. I would continue until my next cycle, or at least for three extra days, just to be safe.

For prevention of c. diff. and the vaginal yeast infections many women suffer during or following a course of antibiotics, eat a yogurt every day (with active cultures) or get some acidophilus pearls/pills from a health-food store and use as directed. The refrigerated kind of acidophilus works best. I’d continue with the yogurt or acidophilus for 2 or 3 days after the antibiotics, a minimum of 7 days following a course of a long-acting abtibiotic like Rocephin or Zithromax.

The only cure for dental issues is to see a dentist / dental clinic and have the work done. Go see a dentist!

If you show up to my ER once, I will tell you that personally.

If you present yourself to me on two or more occasions with the same complaint, I will yell at you.

 

I promise.

 

**Read the Disclaimer, for God’s sake**

 

Post imported from Claiming my Inner Bitch on WordPress, because that’s where the search term led.