Another School Shooting
Another School Shooting
Gun Violence Is an Epidemic and It Must Be Stopped
Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week. Before diving into this week’s news about seasonal respiratory virus vaccines (which I will cover in a post tomorrow), I want to acknowledge the shooting that took place yesterday at Apalachee High School. Four individuals, including two students, are dead. Nine others, eight of whom are students, were injured.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have written about gun violence at the start of the school year. Last August, there was a shooting at UNC. And in October of last year, there was a credible threat of gun violence at my daughter’s school — resulting in an anxious and scary day for our whole family.
Once again, we need to turn our attention to gun violence.
Gun violence is an epidemic in America.
The number of children and teens killed by gunfire in the United States increased by 50% between 2019 and 2021. Guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens.
We need to prevent gun violence before it happens (primary prevention). We must put an end to secondary prevention of gun violence — where teachers and students are tasked with responding to violent situations in their classrooms by locking doors, hiding under desks, and barricading themselves in safe spaces.
Secondary prevention is unacceptable when it comes to gun violence.
Primary prevention — ensuring that gunmen do not enter school buildings, ensuring semi-automatic guns cannot be purchased, ensuring that background checks and gun safety are par for the course across the country — must be our goal. Public health is declaring gun violence to be an epidemic. We want new policies and change. And we stand behind Vice President Harris, who recently said —
“As a nation, we must have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and fight for sensible gun safety laws to ensure nothing like this happens again.”
Primary prevention must be our goal.
And let’s all remember what Amanda Gorman tweeted following the mass shooting —
And if you want to learn more and stay informed, be sure to check out EveryTown to End Gun Violence — they have a plan to end gun violence.
We need to prevent gun violence — our children’s lives demand that we take action today.
No more thoughts & prayers. We need policy & change.
As we get closer to election day (60 days from now), we need to be thinking about how candidates (from those who are running for President to local offices) plan to address gun violence and enhance gun safety in our country.
We need to vote for (new) policy and change.
The gun violence epidemic in America must end.
Epi(demiology) Matters is written by Dr. Becky Dawson, PhD MPH — an epidemiologist, teacher, mom, wife, and dedicated yogi. She is a tenured professor at Allegheny College, Research Director at a community hospital, and an exclusive contributor (all things health & medicine) at Erie News Now (NBC/CBS). Her goal is to create healthy communities for all. She writes Epi Matters — first & foremost because epidemiology does matter (to all of us) and she hopes that each post will help to educate and empower readers to be healthy and create healthy communities.
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