Arizona Department Of Health Calls For Removal Of Guns From Family Homes

Arizona Department Of Health Calls For Removal Of Guns From Family Homes

By Staff Reporter |

The Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) called for the removal of guns from all homes with children.

AZDHS made the recommendation for family homes to have their firearms removed in their latest Arizona Child Fatality Review Program (CFRP) report, released last month. This annual report is submitted to the governor and leaders of both the House and Senate for the purpose of guiding policy and even influencing state intervention. 

“CFRP believes that the most effective way to prevent firearm-related deaths in children is to remove all firearms in households with children because the presence of firearms in a household increases the risk of suicide among adolescents,” stated the opening letter of the report. “Parents of all adolescents should remove all guns from their homes, especially if there is a history of mental health issues or substance use issues. In addition, CFRP recommends that all gun owners should practice safe storage of their firearms by keeping guns unloaded and locked in a safe separate from the ammunition.”

The report recommended that the state should require mental health screening and gun safety training as prerequisites to purchasing firearms, license and track all firearms, and punish people for failing to report stolen firearms. 

The report also recommended that policy makers, participating agencies, and schools launch public awareness campaigns advising the removal of all firearms from their households.

According to that report, nearly 70 minors died from preventable firearm injuries last year. Of those deaths, 44 percent (30 deaths) were suicides. 75 percent occurred in children ages 15-17 years, and 84 percent of firearm injury deaths were among males. 

The leading risk factors of firearm injury deaths were: access to firearms (60 percent), CPS history with the family (59 percent), substance use (56 percent), history of violence or trauma (46 percent), and an unlocked firearm (40 percent). 

Firearms were not the leading cause of preventable deaths for Arizona minors. 

The top leading cause of preventable deaths among minors occurred from motor vehicle crashes (81 deaths, 20 percent), followed by firearm injury (68 deaths, 16 percent), then suffocation (52 deaths, 13 percent), poisoning (34 deaths, eight percent), and drowning (31 deaths, seven percent). 

Founding member and chairwoman Mary Rimsza authored the opening letter which recommended the total removal of guns from homes with children, and the unloading and locking up of guns in all other homes.

Rimsza is a pediatrician, fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, professor of pediatrics at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, and research professor of Health Management and Policy at Arizona State University.

Rimsza advocated for mandatory masking and vaccinations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in the media while serving as the advocacy committee chair for the Arizona chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

According to her X profile, Rimsza has also advocated for eating less meat and indicated her support for Democrats across the board, expressing avid support for Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy and opposition to the reelection of Donald Trump in 2020. 

In a separate X profile, Rimsza shared a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics claiming that racism impacts the physical health of children. 

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ASU President Critical Of Department Of Education Amid Talks Of Its Dissolution

ASU President Critical Of Department Of Education Amid Talks Of Its Dissolution

By Staff Reporter |

Arizona State University (ASU) President Michael Crow may not be in outright support of President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Department of Education (ED), but he does seem to favor the idea of reform at the very least.

In Politico coverage gauging university presidents’ sentiments toward another Trump administration, Crow voiced a desire for an ED overhaul. Crow made the remarks during the annual Higher Education-News Media Dinner-Discussion at the University of Pennsylvania Club of New York City (Penn Club), which he hosted. 

Crow said that ED student loans largely prove to be a waste of taxpayer dollars, since a majority of recipients don’t graduate.

“The Department of Education is a mismatch of bank feeds that have been cobbled together over 50 years of congressional history or more,” said Crow. “If you look at the United States and our success, we have almost three quarters of a trillion dollars being spent on Pell Grants in the last few decades, and more than half of those individuals have never graduated from college.”

Crow went on to say that the federal student loans weren’t having their intended effects — more citizens with a higher education that, in all likelihood, would strengthen the economy, depress poverty, spur innovation, and raise the education level (and welfare) of subsequent generations — since most borrowers weren’t getting their degrees.  

“Most of the people that have loans supported by the government of the United States have no diplomas, no certificates, no degrees of any kind,” said Crow. “Clearly, something is not yet perfected and so what we need is new designs, new models, new ways of doing things.”

Trump vowed to abolish ED in a campaign promise made last year. The proposal was released as part of his “Agenda47” platform outlining his plan for his second and nonconsecutive term. 

In his campaign promise, Trump said he would revert education authority and responsibilities to the states entirely. The president-elect explained the low education outcomes weren’t worth the high rates of federal spending and bureaucracy.

“And one other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C. and sending all education and education work and needs back to the States. We want them to run the education of our children, because they’ll do a much better job of it. You can’t do worse. We spend more money per pupil, by three times, than any other nation. And yet we’re absolutely at the bottom. We’re one of the worst. So you can’t do worse. We’re going to end education coming out of Washington D.C. We’re going to close it up — all those buildings all over the place and yet people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the States.”

Under the late Democratic president Jimmy Carter, the U.S. founded the ED in 1980 through legislation splitting the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare into two: ED, and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

ED received about four percent of the fiscal year 2024 budget, and its budget sits at around $240 billion. ED provides over $150 billion in new and consolidated loans annually. 

ED has the smallest staff of the 15 Cabinet agencies, consisting of about 4,400 employees. 

Those employees are split among 17 offices within the department: Federal Student Aid; Institute of Education Services; Office of the Chief Information Officer; Office of Communications and Outreach; Office for Civil Rights; Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education; Office of the Deputy Secretary; Office of English Language Acquisition; Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; Office of Finance and Operations; Office of the General Counsel; Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs; Office of Postsecondary Education; Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development; Office of the Secretary; Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; and Office of the Under Secretary. 

South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds introduced a bill to abolish ED, the Returning Education to Our States Act. The bill proposed to shift certain programs to other departments.

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National Education Association Promotes Gender Transition Guide For Children Following Election

National Education Association Promotes Gender Transition Guide For Children Following Election

By Staff Reporter |

The National Education Association (NEA), a teachers’ union and the nation’s largest labor union, has continued its promotion of gender transitions for children.

NEA posted the guide by Advocates for Youth on Transgender Day of Remembrance last week. The guide was published last year. 

The guide claims that humans are “assigned” their sex at birth based on reproductive traits (genitalia, chromosomes, and hormones), and that while everyone has a gender identity, only some align with their reproductive traits. The guide claims that children inherently know their gender identity as young as 18 months to three years. 

Parents, per the guide, shouldn’t be the sole decision-makers about their children. Those parents that rely on information conflicting with or opposing transgender ideology are relying on “misinformation and falsehoods.” Instead, parents should accept information which affirms transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth (TNGE).

“Parents have everything they need to begin the journey of supporting their TNGE children,” said the guide. “When making decisions for their children, many parents search for information and resources to support their efforts, but some of what is readily available is misinformation and falsehoods. Parents who are interested in seeking out additional help to support their TNGE children are encouraged to do so.”

As for the role of educators, the guide says that they should “proactively teach the entire school community about gender identity, gender expansiveness, and celebrate LGBTQ history and culture.”

The guide also says that schools should affirm students in their gender identity by using their chosen name and preferred pronouns, regardless of their legal name; ensure students have unencumbered access to their preferred gender-specific facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms; and ensure students may participate in their preferred gender-specific extracurricular activities and athletics.

Per the guide, those who oppose transgender ideology, especially in children, qualify as “extremists” who put out disinformation. 

The guide puts out a number of other contested claims, such as: puberty blockers are lifesaving, not harmful; LGBTQ ideologies contribute to healthy diversity; transgenderism isn’t a mental illness; 

The NEA affiliate in Arizona — the Arizona Education Association (AEA) — has over 22,000 school employees as members (in addition to teachers, their members include librarians, custodians, cafeteria workers, and counselors).

Like the NEA, AEA has actively worked to foster transgenderism and advance other LGBTQ+ ideologies in minors. 

AEA successfully advocated for the repeal of the 28-year-old “no promo homo” law prohibiting the discussion of homosexuality during HIV/AIDS instruction in schools. The law prohibited discussion that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle,” “portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle,” and “suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”

AEA also fought against legislative efforts to require the use of bathrooms based on biological sex, and prohibiting access based on gender identity. 

The union also supported gender transitions for children as young as preschoolers, promoting a parent in 2017 who transitioned his four-year-old son into his “daughter.”

AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.