An ER Doctor Turned Congressman Takes 'Public Health' Approach to Gun Violence

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Raul Ruiz saw plenty of trauma during his days as an emergency room doctor in Southern California, but that doesn't make it easier to deal with constituents directly affected by this week's massacre in Las Vegas.

"Their lives have been flipped upside down," Ruiz said in his office this week. "They’re shook up and they will forever be changed."

Ruiz was referring specifically to family members of Hannah Ahlers, from the Riverside County town of Beaumont, one of the 58 people shot dead by gunman Stephen Paddock during a concert Sunday night in Las Vegas. The 34-year-old mother of three was among several people living in Ruiz's district who were killed or injured in what's described as the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history.

"They ask themselves why," Ruiz said in his office across from the Capitol. "How did this happen and how can we make sure this doesn’t happen again? What can we do differently so they don’t or others don’t experience what they experienced?"

Ruiz, a Democrat, is one of a handful of physicians serving in Congress. The 45-year-old son of farmworkers was born in Mexico and brought to the United States by his parents as a child. He grew up in the Coachella Valley around Palm Springs, the area he has represented in Congress since knocking off incumbent Republican Mary Bono in 2012.

After graduating from UCLA, Ruiz earned his medical degree from Harvard, along with master's degrees from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and its School of Public Health. He eventually became an emergency room doctor at Eisenhower Medical Center in Coachella Valley before getting elected to Congress.

Not surprisingly, he takes a public health approach to gun violence.

"We have to look at all the factors that drive a person to use a gun to kill other people," Ruiz says. "Mental health, violence, anger management and hate. Those that have issues with retaliation after being bullied.

"There is no one magic pill that’s going to solve everything related to this problem. There’s no one risk factor that is going to end all gun violence in America."

It's a heavy lift in this Congress, which until the Las Vegas tragedy was actively considering at least two measures to loosen gun regulations, including one bill to make it easier to obtain silencers.

Like many Democrats, Ruiz blames gun advocacy groups, including the National Rifle Association, for refusing to give ground on any aspect of gun regulation, including mandatory background checks.

"There’s no doubt the NRA is spending money to sow public dissent or discord," Ruiz says. "Now when the American people have any reasonable conversation about gun violence, (the NRA) automatically goes into a partisan fight about the Second Amendment."

He insists there need not be a conflict between responsible gun ownership and the Constitution's right to bear arms.

Ruiz insists he remains hopeful about reducing gun violence, in part because massacres like the one in Nevada are slowly changing attitudes, he says.

"Now it’s hitting home," he said. "We all want our children to be safe. What can we do to make a change that will diminish all the risk factors involved in this?"