WRAL News noted in a March 2024 story that, More children die of gun violence each year in the United States than from cancer; more die from gun violence than in car crashes.

In North Carolina, the problem is worse: Children are 51% more likely to die from guns compared with the national average, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

What can be done? The argument over guns can be so loud, it drowns out conversation that can yield meaningful change, health professionals and firearm policy experts say.

“I just wish we could take politics out of it,” says Dr. Jeffrey Swanson. He’s a Duke University professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences studying the interventions, policies and laws that can reduce firearm-related violence and suicide.

It can seem like an intractable political problem, but there is a simple solution – one that families, gun owners and lawmakers of both parties can agree on.

“I do not want to take people’s guns away. I want them to keep the guns that they have more safely secured,” says pediatrician Brian H. Eichner.

Read the full WRAL story and/or watch the documentary HERE.

Caswell County Sheriff’s Office and the Caswell County Health Department often have free trigger locks available.

Multiple community partners are coming together to host National Night Out at Caswell Parks and Recreation on Tuesday, August 6, 5pm-9pm. Communities across the country celebrate National Night Out is held on the first Tuesday of August every year.

The celebration is designed to enhance relationships between residents and law enforcement while promoting a sense of community.

Those involved in organizing Caswell’s National Night Out celebration say the August 6 event is all about fun and play. Local law enforcement and other first responders often interact with residents during emergencies, criminal investigations, and other emotionally-charged situations. National Night Out provides a chance for those same folks to connect over fun and interactive play.

This FREE event will offer a bounce house, water slide, dunking booth, and hot dogs along with other treats and games.

The Child Behavioral Health Dashboard was developed by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to give service providers, policy makers and stakeholders the information they need to make more data-informed decisions about child behavioral health in North Carolina. The dashboard brings together data from multiple sources and includes key metrics on behavioral health diagnoses among children and adolescents, risk factors and utilization of Emergency Departments, mobile crisis services and Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTFs) for behavioral health care.

The dashboard features several tools to break down the data to focus on specific populations, including geography, race, ethnicity, age and gender. This function gives dashboard users the ability to better identify disparities and trends in child behavioral health among individual population groups.

With this new resource, NCDHHS and its partners will be better able to track progress in the child behavioral health space and help ensure all children in North Carolina have access to the services they need to thrive.

You can access the Child Behavioral Health Dashboard and information on how to use the dashboard HERE.