We have arrived at a time in US history in which the ink isn’t even dry on one story of a mass shooting, and another one has happened. There are so many mass shootings, that we can’t recall the cities and places where they occur, we have to look them up. There are entire websites dedicated to collecting data and documenting the tragedies, one after the other. It’s a continuous news cycle of senseless death.

Sadly, our American appetite for sound bytes and our hunger for polarizing nearly every topic leaves us out of touch with the facts and ignorantly stubborn about finding solutions. The truth is, of the more than 45,000 deaths attributed to guns, more than half are due to suicide, not homicide. While mass shootings steal the flashy news headlines, more Americans die of suicide, gun-related interpersonal violence, and accidental firearm discharge than random mass shootings. Firearms are now the leading cause of death for children in the US. , more than car accidents and pediatric cancer. Author and physician, Johnathan Metzl, in his book “Dying of Whiteness” uncovers how racial fears drove Missourians to repeal firearm safety laws in a move that only increased firearm death in the state. Our tribal mentality drives us to ignore the data and literally vote for policies that harm us.

Good data drives structural engineers to build safer buildings, automakers to make safer cars, and drug companies to develop life-saving cancer therapies. Research has the power to change our minds and guide decision-making to make us safe. But only if we are willing to let go of some of our biases and let the data speak for itself. And in this supercharged political nation, it seems firearm safety is an issue too many people are willing to choose emotion over facts in solving to reduce death. Compared to other leading causes of death, gun violence receives less funding than would be predicted based on its mortality rate. It’s almost as if we have decided we don’t want to know the truth about what is killing us.

Let me tell you a little story about how an open mind and some data changed the way I practice medicine. When I started as an attending surgeon in 2011, I sensed we were keeping too many patients for observation and neurocognitive testing after a concussion, wasting time and resources. So out of a sense of frustration, I studied it. And low and behold, we were NOT keeping too many patients, as my data showed me that nearly 30% of the patients who would have traditionally been sent home from the ED actually have deficits upon further testing, and needed follow-up therapy! By declining to offer additional screening and support, between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4 of my patients would have missed an opportunity for a better outcome after a concussion. I changed my practice and have had a heightened sense of awareness of this type of injury throughout my career.

Speaking of my career, as a trauma surgeon, nearly every day I work, I care for the victims of firearm violence. I see not only bodies maimed and destroyed, some to the point of death, but I see lives shattered, families torn apart, and futures lost. Constant exposure to trauma creates its own trauma. We even have a name for it: secondary victim. As healthcare providers, we have a growing sense of despair, sadness, anxiety, and anger over firearm violence. Many of us screen positive for PTSD as a result of our work. So when the argument about firearm violence turns to mental health, yes, of course, it’s not just the driver of violence, mental health crises are also the result for all involved.

In recent weeks, we have seen innocent everyday mistakes turn into deadly situations. Collectively, we have lost our capacity to communicate in rational ways. More guns will make us safer, they say. No, more guns will continue to escalate our collective anxiety that everyone is armed and every squabble could turn into a gun battle. More guns did not save the children in Uvalde. More guns did not save the bank employees in Louisville. More guns will not save us. That theory has been proven false if only we would humble ourselves to examine the facts.

The issue of firearm injury and death is so complicated. Baked into an individual’s feelings about this issue are culture, religion, politics, and personal experience.

But we have come to a place where we will have to agree to do something different.

While emotional and impassioned pleas are commonplace in this debate, it’s time for the facts to guide us. We need to be far more worried about the preservation of life than clinging to a system and policies that are literally killing us. We all need to literally and figurately lay down our weapons and decide to meet in the middle, to make a way forward, with compromise from all of us, to preserve the life we claim to be so precious.

Disclaimer: My viewpoints are not necessarily reflective of my employer, or any local, regional or national organization that I belong to. As a matter of fact, I pretty much just speak for myself. Please keep that in mind.