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Their view: Oh, the horror of red Christmas trees

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Auditor General Eugene DePasquale this week released a special report on firearm safety that calls for a community approach to making Pennsylvania safer.In the report, DePasquale outlined new ways in which Pennsylvania can curb deaths and injuries without changing existing laws.&#8220;We cannot continue to sit idly by while so many Pennsylvanians are killed or injured,&#8221; DePasquale said in a press release. &#8220;More than 1,500 Pennsylvanians died as a result of firearms in 2016 &#8212; on average, that&#8217;s four funerals held every day.&#8221;DePasquale went on to say that beyond the tragic human toll, firearm-related violence carries enormous costs to society.&#8221;Over the last decade, firearm-related injuries cost Pennsylvania taxpayers about $1.5 billion in health care costs because 76 percent of shooting victims were either uninsured or publicly insured,&#8221; he said.To prepare the report, DePasquale sought input from groups and individuals reflecting a broad range of perspectives, including sporting groups, safety advocates, law enforcement, medical and mental health practitioners, firearm dealers, and domestic violence prevention advocatesDePasquale reiterated that none of his proposals would impact the constitutional rights of firearms owners, further reflecting his desire to work within existing laws.&#8220;Misuse of firearms is a problem that affects not only those who are shot, but the communities to which they belong,&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;It all boils down to this &#8212; too many people are being hurt and killed with firearms, and only by working together can we end the carnage.&#8221;He noted that a unifying theme of the feedback he received was a desire to have a discussion rooted in collaboration, putting aside fear-driven rhetoric and finger-pointing.&#8220;Having a civil discussion about firearms has become difficult in today&#8217;s polarized political environment, but we all must start talking and listening to each other,&#8221; said DePasquale. &#8220;When we talk and listen, it becomes clear that we can find common ground &#8211; and that&#8217;s a giant step toward finding solutions.&#8221;DePasquale said mass shootings, such as the one that claimed 11 lives at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in late October, point to the need for a greater focus on the availability of mental health services as a means of prevention.&#8220;Although mass shootings attract the most media attention &#8212; and understandably so &#8212; such crimes account for less than 1 percent of all Pennsylvania firearm fatalities annually,&#8221; DePasquale said. &#8220;Of the more than 1,500 lives lost statewide in 2016, nearly two-thirds died by suicide.&#8221;DePasquale&#8217;s report, &#8220;A Safer Pennsylvania: A Community Approach to Firearm Safety,&#8221; contains 12 recommendations:&#8226; The state should work to expand access to mental health care, especially in rural communities.&#8226; The stigma of seeking mental-health help must end; to do that, the state should mount a culturally responsive public awareness campaign.&#8226; Engage medical doctors and train all physicians, especially primary care physicians, to screen patients for risks of firearm violence.&#8226; Engage licensed firearms dealers in looking for red flags in customers who might potentially use a firearm for suicide.&#8226; The Pennsylvania Game Commission should expand its hunter education program section on firearm safety and create a voluntary training program on safe firearm usage and storage.&#8226; Encourage all firearm owners to voluntarily use safe storage best practices, such as locking unloaded firearms in a safe and storing ammunition away from firearms.&#8226; The state should continue to support hospital-based violence intervention programs and behavioral health resources in hospitals so they can be fully responsive to the violence they treat and ensure that unresolved trauma will not contribute to retaliation or suicide.&#8226; The state should support communities in organizing violence prevention efforts proven to be effective. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency&#8217;s Gun Violence Reduction Initiative is a good example of that support.&#8226; The governor should sign an executive order requiring Pennsylvania State Police to issue quarterly and monthly reports on firearms traced from crimes to help track lost and stolen guns as well as firearm-related criminal activity.&#8226; The state should secure funding to increase Pennsylvania&#8217;s participation in a national network that uses bullets to connect multiple crimes to single firearms.&#8226; Sheriffs and other law enforcement officials who issue concealed-carry permits should thoroughly check applicants&#8217; references and backgrounds before approving applications and consider prosecuting those who provide false information.&#8226; State Police should implement the Lethality Assessment Program, which connects victims of intimate partner violence to local domestic violence programs, statewide.To review the report, visit www.paauditor.gov.State offers tips to avoidscams during the holidaysWith the holiday shopping season&#8217;s arrival, many people will be withdrawing cash from ATMs, filling up gas tanks for busy shopping days or holiday travel, or making payments at credit card terminals.As technology and financial scam artists become more sophisticated, Secretary of Banking and Securities Robin L. Wiessmann is warning Pennsylvanians to be on the lookout for a variation of an old trick for stealing your payment information.Card &#8220;shimmers&#8221; are a newer version of the more commonly known card &#8220;skimmers.&#8221; Rather than collecting your payment information from the swipe of your credit or debit card&#8217;s magnetic stripe, the criminal steals your information from the card&#8217;s EMV chip when it is inserted into the machine&#8217;s slot. This is done with help from a shim &#8212; a paper-thin, card-size device embedded with a microchip or flash storage inserted directly into the machine&#8217;s card slot. The shim then reads and stores your payment information until the scammer can return to collect it.&#8220;Unlike card skimmers &#8212; which can be easier to spot with a physical inspection of your ATM, gas pump, or store payment device &#8212; shims can be harder to detect due to their paper-thin size and concealment inside of the machine,&#8221; warns Wiessmann. &#8220;Exerting a little extra effort and due diligence can go a long way in helping protect your personal financial information from scammers, who can value your personal information more than money.&#8221;Wiessmann suggests the following tips to protect yourself:&#8226; Defer to &#8220;tap-and-go&#8221; or contactless payment methods. Many credit cards offer a &#8220;tap-and-go&#8221; feature that do not require inserting or swiping your card. Services like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay are similarly used in a tap-and-pay manner. If you do swipe or insert your card, consider using your credit card instead of debit card to avoid compromising your PIN and to gain other consumer protections.&#8226; Watch statements and account activity carefully. Regularly look through your credit card and bank account transactions to catch any errant transactions. You can request a free copy of your credit report from each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies once a year. Consider pulling from one of the companies every four months to keep a regular eye on the activity.&#8226; ATMs in low-traffic, poorly lit areas and those that are freestanding are more likely to be targets for fraud devices. The same is true of payment terminals inside of stores located near employees; although shimming devices can be present within a store, you are less likely to find one there than at an unmanned, hard-to-observe machine. If someone ahead of you is taking an unusual amount of time at the ATM and is acting suspiciously, do not use that machine and report it to law enforcement. Most importantly, if you have trouble removing your card from the machine or it gets completely stuck, contact the institution and law enforcement immediately to report the issue.&#8226; Use your bank&#8217;s services. Whenever possible, use the ATM inside of a bank which are less susceptible to shimmers or withdraw money directly from a bank teller.&#8226; If you believe you have been the victim of a card &#8220;shimmer&#8221; or &#8220;skimmer,&#8221; file a report with police and report the incident to the card issuer.<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Bill O&#8217;Boyleboboyle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</shirttailMeta></div>

Pa. Auditor General issues special report on reducing firearm deaths