Reading Hospital hosts discussion on reducing gun violence

Yahoo

04-03-2025

Sitting inside a conference room at Reading Hospital, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said every Pennsylvanian deserves to be safe and feel safe in their communities.
But the simple fact is gun violence is a serious and growing problem across the nation, the state and Berks County. And that's why Davis visited the West Reading hospital on Monday.
The lieutenant governor led a roundtable discussion with local leaders aimed at finding ways to stem the tide and reduce gun violence.
'It's really important to recognize that gun violence is something we can and we must do something about here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,' he said. 'We are here to highlight some of the successes you have made to reduce the number of homicides in Berks County, but I also know that one act of gun violence is one too many. We've been making progress on the issue, but there is still much more work to be done.'
Davis, who leads the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, said Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration is taking a comprehensive approach to tackling the issue. That means partnering with lawmakers to support law enforcement and invest in community organizations working on the ground to help survivors heal from trauma.
'All of this is about creating ladders of opportunities for folks to succeed,' he said.
It also means making sure those on the front lines of the fight against violence have the resources they need.
Davis said the current state budget allocates $45 million through Violence Intervention and Prevention grants to support programs that work to curb violence. The governor is advocating for an additional $10 million for grants in budget negotiations.
'We know these programs work and we need to get them into more communities, which is why we need to increase our investment,' he said.
Reading Hospital is a recipient of one of those grants, getting $622,649 to expand its violence recovery program. It will provide resources to prevent gun violence and community education.
Anthony Martin, trauma program manager at Reading Hospital, said the funds will be used to hire and train a trauma violence recovery specialist to provide support and referral services to hospitalized victims of violence. It will also help cover costs to operate the program and fund support staff in violence intervention education.
The violence recovery program, which was launched in 2004, provides targeted services to survivors and works to reduce risk factors such as substance misuse and unemployment while promoting protective factors such as social support and educational attainment.
'It's all about breaking that cycle of violence,' Martin said. 'So we look at how we might be able to address some immediate needs and then build on that to make lasting changes through workforce development or relocation services.'
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis talks about gun violence prevention along with state Sen. Judy Schwank, left, and state Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz during a roundtable discussion at Reading Hospital about gun violence prevention on Monday, March 3, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
The violence recovery program is, unfortunately, desperately needed as incidents of gun violence continue to increase in Berks.
'In terms of gun violence this last year, once every three days someone came in with a gunshot wound,' said Dr. Brian Lahmann, chair of the department of emergency medicine for Tower Health. 'And that was a dramatic increase from the year before.'
Lahmann said gunshot victims reach across all demographics. For instance, he noted there were three children under the age of 10 who were admitted in the past month.
Dr. Brian Lahmann, left, chair of the department of emergency medicine at Reading Hospital, and Dr. Eugene Reilly, vice president and chief medical information officer at Tower Health, participate in a roundtable discussion at Reading Hospital about gun violence prevention on Monday, March 3, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
'I think the two biggest pieces to prevention are decreasing access to these complex firearms and educating those who own guns about how to properly use them,' he said.
Dr. Eugene Reilly, chief medical information officer for Tower Health, agreed.
'We are talking about violence recovery, but even better would be if it never happened in the first place,' he said. 'And I think it's important to hammer home again and again that you are more likely to die from your own gun than someone else's.
'This concept of this maligned stranger coming into your life and that you need to be protected from that entity has really captured the imagination of a lot of people. But that's not really what we see. What we really see is people who are lawful gun owners that have fits of passion or poor judgment.'
Those fits of passion and poor judgment often turn into incidents of domestic abuse, which has an undeniable link to gun violence, Safe Berks CEO Beth Garrigan told the lieutenant governor.
Anthony Martin, trauma program manager at Reading Hospital, and Beth Garrigan CEO of Safe Berks, participate in a roundtable discussion at Reading Hospital about gun violence prevention on Monday, March 3, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
'In many cases it's someone that you love who is using their gun,' she said. 'In 2024, there were 104 people killed by domestic violence in Pennsylvania and in 65% of those deaths firearms were used. So it's a very big problem.'
Garrigan said that even when a gun is not used to kill, it is often used to threaten and intimidate.
Legislative solutions
Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams shared with Austin that the county has three task forces focused on getting illegal guns off the streets, and he believes it is having a real impact on the community.
He noted the county saw a dramatic decline in the number of homicides committed last year compared with the number committed over the last several years. There were 12 in the county — eight of those taking place in Reading.
Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams participates in a roundtable discussion at Reading Hospital about gun violence prevention on Monday, March 3, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
But, he added, there is more work to be done.
When asked by Davis what changes to legislation he would like to see to address gun violence, Adams said there are three laws he would like to see enacted.
The first would make possession of 'glock switches' a felony. These devices are used to modify handguns to shoot like machine guns, which amplify the impact of gun violence.
The second would increase penalties for gun owners who fail to report a stolen firearm.
And he would like to see funding allocated for the creation of youth detention centers. He noted that Berks is in the process of partnering with Dauphin and Lehigh counties to reopen and operate the former youth detention center in Bern Township, which closed its doors in 2012.
'Many counties in the state do not have a place to put these juveniles who commit gun offenses,' he said. 'This is a problem that needs to be addressed now because so much of the gun violence we see is being committed by young people.'
State Sen. Judy Schwank said that during her time in office she has worked with colleagues to advance legislation that can reduce gun violence.
The Wyomissing Democrat said more can be done but pointed to one specific source of pride — a bill that took firearms away from individuals who have a protection-from-abuse order against them.
'One of the messages that we have to get out is that it's not about taking away the firearms you are using for legitimate purposes, it's about keeping everybody safe,' she said.
State Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz said it's going to take everyone in the community to address gun violence. The Reading Democrat said there needs to be a return to a time when neighbors looked out for neighbors and kids were afraid to do something wrong because they knew the adults in their neighborhood would 'snitch on them.'
'This is going to take everyone — from those who are hanging out on the block to the bodega owners to the business owners to the church leaders,' she said. 'It's going to have to be each one looking out for our young people as a collective.'
Reach out
If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, contact the 24-hour Safe Berks hotline at 844-789-SAFE (7233) or text SAFE BERKS to 20121.