Gun Violence Is an Epidemic
Gun Violence Is an Epidemic
Thoughts from your epidemiologist mama
As a mama of two kids, my heart breaks for those grieving from the mass shooting in Texas. The fear, terror, shock, and sadness associated with (yet another) mass shooting in a school is almost too much to bear. I hugged my kids a little longer last night, as I recognize/fear that the next school shooting could be at my kids’ school or my classroom.
We know another school shooting will take place.
As a parent, knowing that it is not a question of if there will be another school shooting but when will it happen (and where) just sucks. Parenting my kids in a country where school shootings are all too common is challenging. And talking with my kids about what happened in Texas this week, Buffalo last week, Miami in 2018, and Sandy Hook in 2012 (I could go on…) was difficult. If you are a parent and need a resource to help you through these difficult times and conversations, I recommend this for youth/teenagers and this for younger kids.
As I watched the news coverage from Texas, I was reminded of a senior thesis one of my exceptional students completed years ago.1 In the thesis, he included this quote —
“The regularity of mass killings breeds familiarity. The rhythms of grief and outrage that accompany them become—for those not directly affected by tragedy—ritualised and then blend into the background noise. That normalisation makes it ever less likely that America's political system will groan into action to take steps to reduce their frequency or deadliness.” ~ The Latest American Mass Killing (2015)
As a parent, I feel it important that we demand policy & change.
As an epidemiologist, I join with a multitude of public health professionals who are declaring that —
“Gun violence is an epidemic.”
We need to recognize that gun violence is public health emergency. And it is threatening the lives of our children, as well as their mental and emotional health.
Change is needed.
Did you know that gun violence is the leading cause of premature death in children and youth in the United States? It is. More than 100 Americans die each day from gun violence. The number of guns purchased in the US is increasing, as are deaths and injuries from guns. This is unacceptable.
Gun violence has become an epidemic.
And gun violence is a threat to public health.
The science of public health, epidemiology, can be used to conduct surveillance and research related to gun violence in the United States. With data and results from research studies, we can craft policies, programs, and interventions to do what public health does best —
PREVENTION.
“Time and time again, a public health approach to solving health threats is a proven, evidencebased approach to improving health and preventing injury… Health epidemics don’t end unless we intervene taking the best science about what does and does not work and using it. The epidemic of intentional gun violence can be reversed with a science-based approach. It happened with Ebola, it worked for automobile crashes and it can absolutely reduce gun violence.”
~Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association
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.
The project was titled Indirect Community Repercussions of Gun Violence: A Retrospective Cohort Study to Determine the Effect of Mass Shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2002 on the Birth Weight of Newborns. It was written by G. Devenney.