WHEREAS, firearm injuries result in a significant number of emergency room visits, critical or long-term care, and extensive rehabilitative costs; and,

WHEREAS, according to the Profile of Injury in San Francisco, created by the Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Injury Center (August 1996), there were 289 firearm injuries representing 4.3% of all emergency room admissions in 1993 ; and,

WHEREAS, in the same report, 19% of injury hospitalizations among youths ages 15-24 were due to firearms; and,

WHEREAS, in the same report, 117 deaths were attributed to firearm use in 1993, with homicide being the leading cause of death for males ages 15-24, of which 80% were due to firearms; and,

WHEREAS, gun ownership is often mistakenly justified by the need for protection of home and self, over the ten year period (1985-95) there were 922 firearm deaths, and only five of those deaths (.005) could be attributed to the legally justifiable use of a firearm; and,

WHEREAS, family violence is still the leading cause of all solved homicides of women in San Francisco, with 64% of those murders due to firearm use; and,

WHEREAS, the availability of firearms is a significant factor in violent incidents, and represents a significant public health problem; and,

WHEREAS, any reduction of firearms will save lives; and,

WHEREAS, the Violence Prevention Network has endorsed the One Less Gun Campaign citywide effort; and,

WHEREAS, the One Less Gun Campaign is an outgrowth of the Building a healthier San Francisco Collaborative of which the United Way, the West Bay Hospital Conference, the Department of Public Health, and fifty or more other organizations are members, now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the San Francisco Health Commission hereby endorses and supports the citywide One Less Gun Campaign.

I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Health Commission at its meeting of Tuesday, September 2, 1997.