essay about gun violence in america

Introduction

• Why non-carceral community-based investments are key for preventing gun violence
• How state and local leaders are leveraging ARP funds to invest in non-carceral safety strategies
• Recommendations from the field: Maximizing ARP funds to promote holistic community safety

In June 2022, the most significant piece of gun violence prevention legislation in decades, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act , became law. Alongside several common-sense gun regulations, the law allocates $250 million for community-based violence prevention initiatives—a promising step toward promoting safety through non-carceral and community-centered approaches. 1  

This federal action is important, but it only scratches the surface of what can be done to keep communities safe from gun violence. From investing in youth employment programs to revitalizing vacant lots to improving the quality of neighborhood housing, a wealth of community-based safety interventions are proven to reduce violent crime—including gun violence—in the places most impacted by it, and tackle the conditions of inequality that allow violence to concentrate in the first place. 2 But far too often, these community-based interventions are under-funded, particularly when compared to more punitive approaches. 3

Luckily, another source of federal aid can fund community-based safety investments: the American Rescue Plan’s (ARP) $350 billion in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. In addition to helping states and localities recover from the pandemic, the funds also provide local leaders with an unparalleled opportunity to address the public health crisis of gun violence. Indeed, President Joe Biden recently called on state and local leaders to use portions of this funding to address gun violence, including by “expanding evidence-based community violence intervention programs, and preventing crime by making our neighborhoods stronger with more educational and economic opportunities.” 4    

This research brief documents how state and local leaders are leveraging ARP funds to invest in non-carceral community-based safety initiatives; presents perspectives and case studies from leaders on-the-ground innovating on such strategies; and offers recommendations for how state and local leaders can maximize ARP funds to promote community safety prior to 2024 (when all funds must be obligated) and 2026 (when all funds must be spent). This is an unparalleled—and time-limited—window of opportunity, and states and localities should be thinking strategically right now about how to not only invest in proven strategies to reduce gun violence, but also promote life-affirming safety investments that  support thriving communities. 

Why non-carceral community-based investments are key for preventing gun violence 

Despite news headlines to the contrary, the U.S. is not in the midst of a crime wave . But it is experiencing an unprecedented and alarming increase in murders, driven largely by gun homicides. 5 Between 2019 and 2020, murder rates nationwide rose nearly 30%, while other forms of crime went down. 6 Since then, homicides, gun assaults, and other forms of violent crime have continued to trend upward, and as of June 2022, the homicide rate was 39% higher than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 7 For this reason, this brief focuses primarily on the role that community-based safety investments can play in addressing gun violence but it is important to note that these investments can also have broader impacts on public safety and community well-being.  

To understand the effectiveness of community-based safety investments, it helps to look at where most gun violence occurs. 8 Within cities and towns, gun violence is spatially concentrated—disproportionately occurring within a select set of high-poverty and disinvested neighborhoods, and within these neighborhoods, a select set of streets. 9  These are also the places where indicators of structural disadvantage (such as poverty, racial segregation, lower educational attainment, and high unemployment) cluster. 10 This pattern held during the recent nationwide increase in gun violence. 11   

The spatial concentration of violence stems from generations of policies and public and private investment decisions. Numerous studies have found a connection between state-sponsored racial segregation and gun violence, with the same places historically deemed unworthy of economic investment (through redlining) being more likely to be where gun violence concentrates today. 12 Research has also identified a link between concentrated poverty, densely crowded housing, and vacant buildings with higher rates of violent crime, including gun homicides. 13   

Given the many place-based factors that contribute to gun violence, there is growing recognition that just like improving public health in other ways, reducing gun violence requires addressing its social determinants and looking outside traditional systems (such as courts or hospitals) to tackle its root causes. 14   This approach is consistent with the preferences of survivors of violent crime, who overwhelmingly prefer investments in non-punitive crime prevention over criminal legal system responses. 15 As the John Jay College of Criminal Justice recently pointed out , this approach is also consistent with an emerging and growing body of research that elevates the effectiveness of non-carceral public safety investments that put communities at the center and builds their capacity to advance safety, health, and economic opportunity. 16  

The next section of this brief examines four categories of non-carceral community safety investments that ARP funds are being used for. Before introducing examples of investments in each category, we provide further empirical justification for specific investments within that category. But while the empirical evidence matters, the underlying moral argument does as well: Mass incarceration is not a morally acceptable solution to systemic disinvestment . 17 Local leaders should support non-carceral community safety interventions not only because they are effective, but because investing in struggling communities is the right thing to do. 

Methodology   This brief pulls from public data state and local governments reported to the U.S. Treasury Department regarding ARP spending. 18 We filtered projects by “Expense Category Group- 3-Services to Disproportionately Impacted Communities,” and further filtered by “Category-3.16-Social Determinants of Health: Community Violence Interventions.” 19 These filters, which Treasury has since recategorized as “Category 1 Public Health, 1.11 Community Violence Intervention,” document instances in which state and local leaders are purposefully aiming to reduce violence by addressing social determinants. We recognize that there are many more projects that are not coded as violence interventions that can still have an outsized impact in reducing violence, such as those designed to restore vacant lots or pilot universal basic incomes. However, we believe it is important to highlight how states and localities are explicitly thinking about violence prevention through community-centered approaches.   Within the Community Violence Intervention designation, we also filtered out funding allocated to victim services. While such projects are commendable and necessary, they are responses to violence, whereas our brief is concerned with interventions that prevent violence. Additionally, this brief focuses entirely on non-carceral safety uses of ARP funds, meaning we excluded uses that expand the reach of the criminal legal system (such as increasing the size of the police force or acquiring new public safety technology). The justification behind this approach is to highlight forward-looking and life-affirming visions of community safety, rather than carceral approaches that produce negative intergenerational consequences (such as mental health ramifications, family separation, poor educational performance, and racialized class stratification). 20 Finally, we conducted qualitative interviews with 14 government and civic leaders working at the state, county, and city level. 21 In selecting interviewees, we balanced attention to government and civil society and sought to center Black voices, particularly in localities with a large Black population.

How state and local leaders are leveraging ARP funds to invest in non-carceral safety strategies 

While the most straightforward uses of the American Rescue Plan’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds are to replace lost tax revenue or shore up general funds, the Treasury Department’s rules allow for a broad range of uses that “build a strong, resilient, and equitable recovery by making investments that support long-term growth and opportunity.” 22 Treasury also makes clear that community safety interventions are valid expenditure types for all communities, particularly those that have suffered an uptick in violence. 23 And as analysts at Civil Rights Corps , Alliance for Safety and Justice , the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities , and other organizations have pointed out, these flexible funds offer the largest-ever influx of federal dollars to support states and localities advance non-carceral interventions that promote a holistic vision of community safety. 24  

Below is a curated list of state and local investments in non-carceral community safety interventions, categorized along four key dimensions of community well-being. 25 While there are many more examples, our list represents a diverse set of locations with distinct approaches.  

Enhancing economic opportunity to promote safety 

A place’s economic health has a significant influence on its rates of violence; neighborhoods with higher poverty rates, unemployment, and income inequality have higher rates of violent crime. 26 On the other side of this relationship, a promising body of evidence demonstrates that by enhancing economic opportunity and reducing inequality within neighborhoods, places can significantly reduce crime. 27 For instance, evidence shows that youth workforce development and employment programs can reduce youth involvement in violent crime by as much as 45%. 28 Improving school quality has also been found to reduce violent crime arrests. 29 Finally, helping families avoid financial stress has been found to reduce crime and produce numerous other community benefits. 30   

Figure 1 illustrates how state and local governments are heeding this body of evidence and using ARP funds to advance community safety through economic mobility. For example, Illinois allocated $60 million investment toward youth employment programming, which subsidizes wages for high-risk youth and allows them to gain employability skills, participate in career development and apprenticeship programming, and receive wraparound services to address the root causes of employment barriers.  

Case study: How a small city in Virginia is using ARP funds to reduce violent crime through youth workforce development   Danville is a Black-majority (49%) city in southern Virginia with a population of approximately 42,000 . In 2016, it had the state’s highest per capita homicide rate , largely driven by gang-related violence . To tackle this, the city implemented a variety of community-centered programs to build trust in high-violence neighborhoods and prevent violence among at-risk youth. As Danville’s City Manager Ken Larking told us, “The best way to reduce crime is to prevent it and intervene before it happens.”  In 2020 (the year with the most recently reported data ), Danville saw a 50% reduction in violent crime from 2016. The city’s focus on prevention is also central to how it’s using ARP funds. Larking said that Danville is allocating funds on both “direct” violence prevention (including $236,000 on community violence initiatives) as well as “indirect” violence prevention, such as $1 million to address blight and additional grants to help residents of disinvested neighborhoods start businesses.   Of particular note is Project Imagine , a youth workforce development and violence prevention initiative that received $36,000 in ARP funding. Project Imagine provides gang-involved or at-risk youth with mentorship, apprenticeships, and employment opportunities, and enables former participants to become “ambassadors” who represent their neighborhoods in city meetings and provide input on the city’s strategic plan.  “One thing I knew coming into this city is that there was no voice from the Black community that was being heard,” Robert David, who leads Project Imagine, told us. When David was brought on in 2018, he had no staff or budget, but was able to access unused city funds from the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to begin offering paid jobs to youth. He also turned everyday community spaces into hubs to promote workforce development. “We made the barbershop a haven,” he said, noting when one of his outreach workers isn’t there, people will ask the barber, “Where’s my man with the jobs?”  The infusion of ARP funds has helped David hire permanent outreach workers to connect with more youth, which has since significantly increased enrollment in the initiative. The funds have also enabled him to acquire a permanent building for Project Imagine, which will serve as a safe drop-in space and community center for youth. 

Investing in the built environment and public health to promote safety  

The most consistent evidence on the relationship between violence prevention and place exists in the realm of the built environment. Numerous studies find that the renovation of housing, vacant buildings, land, and lots as well as efforts to add greenery and improve air quality significantly reduce violent crime. 31 These place-based strategies aim to counter decades of public and private disinvestment by revitalizing the physical environment and improving the health and safety of entire communities, rather than focusing on a sub-set of high-risk individuals (which many violence prevention programs, such violence interrupters, tend to focus on). 32 These interventions also align with a public health approach to preventing violence, which addresses the environmental factors that increase susceptibility to violence and advances protective environments that nurture safety, health, and well-being. 33 Examples range from addressing air pollution to increasing Medicaid coverage to expanding access to substance abuse and mental health treatment. 34  

Figure 2 highlights how state and local governments are using ARP funds to advance built environment improvements in communities and bolster public health system responses to community violence. For example, Chicago allocated ARP dollars to fund public realm improvements, building restorations, the preservation of safe and affordable housing, and the reactivation of city-owned land in the 15 areas with the highest rates of homicide and nonfatal shootings. 

It is important to note that while Figure 2 includes built environment and public health interventions explicitly categorized as “community violence interventions,” there are many other examples of state and local governments investing in built environment improvements that have the potential to prevent violence and are not categorized as such. These include city beautification and a revitalized community park in Milwaukee , streetlight repair in Los Angeles , and weatherization efforts to remove lead and mold in Washington, D.C . 35  

Case study: How Multnomah County, Ore. is taking a public health approach to violence prevention Multnomah County is home to Portland, Oregon’s most populous city. During the pandemic, gun violence in the city nearly tripled . In response to this sharp uptick and an over-burdened social service system, county officials allocated over $61 million of their ARP funds to violence prevention, including $4 million in public health approaches .    “We drew a one-to-one connection between the uptick and gun violence and the pandemic,” said Adam Renon, senior policy advisor to the Multnomah County chair. “The loss of social cohesion, the isolation, the breakdown of traditional society norms. So, we said, let’s use ARP funds to address that.” The county allocated $300,000 to hire “community health specialists” who provide families directly impacted by gun violence with safety plans and trauma support. An additional $1.2 million went toward creating a behavioral health response team of clinicians and peers to serve youth and families affected by gun violence. And the county expanded existing programs, including the Habilitation, Empowerment, Accountability, Therapy (H.E.A.T.) curriculum —a cognitive behavioral therapy program meant to address generational traumas for justice-involved people.    Raffaele Timarchi, policy advisor to the county chair, explained the importance of embedding public health approaches to violence prevention across multiple county departments: “[Just because] we take a public health approach to violence prevention doesn’t mean that all of our investments have to be in a public health department…We want to spread the tools of public health into these other departments, including people working at the community level.” This approach ran through Multnomah County’s ARP safety allocations, which included significant investments to strengthen communities through emergency rental assistance, community organization incubators, and a $4.8 million investment in direct assistance to help pay for residents’ pressing financial needs, including food, child care, transportation, and living expenses 

“We drew a one-to-one connection between the uptick and gun violence and the pandemic. The loss of social cohesion, the isolation, the breakdown of traditional society norms. So, we said, let’s use ARP funds to address that.” Adam Renon, Senior Policy Advisor, Multnomah County

Nurturing social cohesion to promote safety  

A significant body of evidence demonstrates that social cohesion and feelings of belonging to a neighborhood are associated with lower violent crime rates. 36 Research has also found that increasing the number of spaces for informal contact between neighbors (e.g., parks, community centers) is linked to a greater sense of safety for people in urban areas. 37 A growing body of evidence even indicates that creative placemaking can enhance community safety. 38

The evidence linking social cohesion with reduced violence forms the basis for many evidence-based community violence intervention programs, such as Cure Violence or Advance Peace , 39 which rely on community outreach to reach individuals in neighborhoods at the highest risk for violence. 40 These violence interrupting programs have contributed to significant declines in violence in high-crime neighborhoods in Richmond, Calif., Stockton, Calif., Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, and others. 41  

Figure 3 highlights how state and local governments are using ARP funds to either invest in community violence interruption programs or in activities and programs that promote social cohesion. For example, Elkhart, Ind. is using ARP dollars to host summer events with music and food, present talks by credible messengers (e.g., people who have formerly been involved with the criminal legal system and now work in violence prevention), distribute anti-gun-violence yard signs, and provide COVID-19 information. Cincinnati is funding the Save Our Youth: Kings & Queens program, in which at-risk teens participate in a three-month program involving field trips and speakers focusing on Black history.  

Case study: How St. Louis is preventing violence by investing in safe youth spaces St. Louis is a midsized city (45.7% Black) with a population of roughly 300,000 . Even with a slight decline in 2021, St. Louis continues to have one of the highest homicide rates in the nation . In recent years, there has been growing recognition among city officials that to prevent violence, they must target its root causes—starting with offering resources to those who are most at-risk for committing and be victims of violence, including youth in disinvested neighborhoods.  “We have over 50 kids that have been shot since the beginning of this year,” said Wilford Pinkney Jr., director of the Mayor’s Office of Children, Youth, and Families. “Most of our car jackings and car thefts are all juveniles…There was no one engaging with them to determine what is happening, why they engaged in that behavior, and to try to deal with addressing it early on. We need to deal with that before we get to the point that they’re car jacking and shooting people.”    As part of its ARP allocation, St. Louis devoted $5.5 million to violence interruption initiatives. One is Safer Summer St. Louis, which funds youth- and grassroots-led organizations to plan pop-up events aimed at providing safe, community-building spaces. Jessica Meyers, director for the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission , said that motivation for the program came from youth themselves: “We heard from the youth that they feel like they do not have access to their whole neighborhood. They do not have access to safe spaces in their neighborhood. The spaces that should be safe, like parks, aren’t safe because of gun violence or drug dealing or gang activity. Or the spaces that are safe—like a recreation center or a YMCA or a business—they don’t feel welcome in them, or they feel there are barriers, whether that’s a fee or transportation.” Safer Summer St. Louis seeks to tackle this by providing funding (up to $5,000 per event) to youth in neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence to host events like block parties, bike rides, fitness events, and other activities of their choosing.  Meyers said that while the program is based on evidence about what works to prevent violence, it is really about showing St. Louis youth that the city is invested in their future. “[Safer Summer St. Louis] is about investing in youth and telling them we value them enough that we’re taking this $1 million in [ARP] funding and we’re going to put it directly to events that allow you to be young and have fun in St. Louis—in a safer St. Louis.” 

“[Safer Summer St. Louis] is about investing in youth and telling them we value them enough that we’re taking this $1 million in [ARP] funding and we’re going to put it directly to events that allow you to be young and have fun in St. Louis—in a safer St. Louis.” Jessica Meyers, Director of the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission

Strengthening civic infrastructure to promote safety  

Nearly every non-carceral community-based safety intervention requires the leadership and dedication of civic and community-based organizations to be implemented. 42 And aside from that, research indicates that the mere presence of such organizations within a neighborhood leads to reductions in violent crime. 43 The challenge, however, is that while city resources are plentiful for increasing police in high-crime neighborhoods, cities routinely fail to fund the community infrastructure (such as grassroots organizations) that stabilize communities. 44  

Figure 4 highlights how state and local governments are using ARP funds to enhance the capacity of community-based and civic organizations to prevent violence. For example, New Haven, Conn. used $785,000 of its ARP funds to create Civic Space , a centralized public forum for citizens and grassroots organizations to share input on ARP investments, learn about new community-centered violence prevention initiatives, and partner with other organizations working on similar aims. 

Case study: How Minnesota is supporting locally led grassroots organizations prevent violence Minnesota has a population of 5.7 million , with the largest concentrations in the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Despite relatively strong gun laws, firearms are the leading cause of death for youth in the state. With Minneapolis being the site of George Floyd’s murder and the catalyst for global protests against racial injustice, the state knew it needed to act boldly in allocating ARP funds toward non-carceral public safety approaches—ultimately obligating $16.8 million for violence prevention and intervention activities as well as survivor support.   As part of this, state leaders allocated $5 million toward a new Innovation in Community Safety grant program . Kate Weeks, executive director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said the program is “a new way for Minnesota to push out money that was community-focused,” where “decisions about where funds would go come directly from the community.” The grant program provides local organizations in targeted neighborhoods with up to $1 million for community safety programming, prioritizing areas with the highest rates of violent crime. According to Weeks, the recipients have been “virtually all nonprofits.”   The state made another $2.5 million available through Violence Intervention Grants , with a maximum per-grant amount of $250,000. These grants were designed to have a more equitable distribution of applicants, with a fiscal agent administering smaller funding amounts more quickly to grassroots organizations.

Recommendations from the field: Maximizing ARP funds to promote holistic community safety  

The state, county, and local leaders we interviewed offered five primary recommendations on how to more equitably and effectively allocate ARP spending toward non-carceral community safety interventions. These recommendations, which align with emerging research on best practices for the equitable use of ARP funds, include:  

• Build the capacity of smaller, grassroots nonprofits to deploy funds. States and municipalities rely on nonprofit partners to execute ARP obligations; small and grassroots nonprofits (which often serve and hold greater trust with disinvested communities) are at a structural disadvantage in becoming aware of and applying for federal funds, as well as in navigating the reporting requirements tied to federal dollars. 45 As Robert David explained, prior to Danville’s efforts to invest in violence prevention, there was a disconnect between grassroots organizations and “where the funding was,” which made the city “resource-rich but collaboratively poor.” Our interviewees explained how solving this mismatch requires direct outreach to nonprofits in disinvested communities to make them aware of ARP funds, simplifying the application process or dedicating state or municipal resources to support grassroots partners through the process, and loosening reporting requirements. For example, in St. Louis, the city hired a consultant to help grassroots nonprofits apply for funds. And in Minnesota, the state allocated different funding streams through a “social compact” model to allow some smaller nonprofits to pool their applications to make a stronger case for funding.  
• Employ participatory and community-informed processes to guide investment decisions . To be true to the White House’s directive to use ARP funds equitably , disproportionately impacted communities should be engaged in determining how these federal dollars are spent. A variety of traditional mechanisms can be used to do so, including surveys, online forms, public meetings, and listening sessions. But these tools alone can often exclude citizens who are not already highly engaged or who have limited broadband access. Leaders must be intentional about diversifying the forms of community engagement and ensuring engagement is meaningful. Some strategies include targeted outreach in disadvantaged census tracts, using paid community reviewers (including youth) to review proposals and help make grantmaking decisions, conducting outreach to incarcerated and returning citizens, and launching longer-term processes such as participatory budgeting . For example, the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission hired youth to review proposals for their Safer Summer St. Louis program, and Danville leveraged previous community engagement processes to guide the allocation of ARP funds. Stakeholders across all cities emphasized the importance of engaging youth.

“When we give power to young people to use their voice, to be able to co-create, that is more powerful than [when] we are just ordaining from on high and not letting them be effective partners,” Devanshi Patel, CEO of the Center for Youth and Family Advocacy in Virginia. 

• Prioritize equity in the allocation, implementation, and evaluation of ARP funds. The Treasury Department explicitly urged states and localities to prioritize equity in their distribution of ARP funds. In terms of funding allocations, equity can mean ensuring funding flows to census tracts with disproportionate rates of violence or to organizations whose leadership and staff are demographically representative of the communities they serve (for example, by requiring grant seekers to disclose this information in applications, as Minnesota did). In terms of implementation, interviewees explained that equity means trusting community-based organizations—particularly those with deep ties to underserved places—to use their funding in nimble ways that respond to communities’ evolving needs. Equity also means recognizing that people involved in implementation might not have standard resumes or may have criminal records, but their lived experiences and community ties are valuable assets for expanding the success and impact of these interventions. As Multnomah County’s Adam Renon told us, “We need to learn from the individuals who have been incarcerated or who have committed gun violence, and ask them, ‘What would have prevented you from entering that life?’” Finally, in terms of evaluation, equity means thinking expansively about compliance requirements and reporting metrics—including incorporating qualitative data and perspectives from directly impacted communities—as burdensome requirements can strain capacity and limit the ability of smaller organizations to access funding.

“ We need to learn from the individuals who have been incarcerated or who have committed gun violence, and ask them, ‘What would have prevented you from entering that life?’” Adam Renon, Senior Policy Advisor, Multnomah County

• Use data to not just understand program effectiveness, but to respond to evolving community needs. Upticks in violence can be unpredictable and send shockwaves across entire communities—disrupting school, family, and social life even for residents who may not have been directly victimized themselves. For this reason, interviewees stressed the importance of using public safety indicators not just to gauge whether prevention initiatives are working, but also as a way to shift implementation and resource allocation to respond to communities’ needs. “We really tried to take a look at the data in front of us,” Multnomah County’s Raffaele Timarchi said. “We knew that mental health concerns were up, we knew youth were disconnected from school and social supports…The safety net had been frayed.” Timarchi explained how the intersecting challenges of rising gun homicide rates, school closures, and frontline workers’ burnout guided their cross-disciplinary approach to violence prevention. Wilford Pinkney Jr. described using St. Louis’ crisis response data to craft programs that better fit community needs: “If you’re doing crisis response right, you’re engaging people and gathering a lot of data that’s hard for people to refute in terms of what the needs are in the community. We don’t have to guess what people need. We have 6,000 interactions from people in this community saying what they need.” Interviewees stressed this imperative to use data not as a way to judge high-violence communities, but rather as a tool to more deeply understand their shifting needs.

“If you’re doing crisis response right, you’re engaging people and gathering a lot of data that’s hard for people to refute in terms of what the needs are in the community. We don’t have to guess what people need. We have 6,000 interactions from people in this community saying what they need.” Wilford Pinkney Jr., St. Louis

• Create dedicated and sustainable funding streams—including as line items in city budgets—and braid funding streams whenever possible to increase scale. ARP provides state and local leaders with a once-in-a-generation influx of funds, but it is time-limited. Multiple interviewees expressed their concern that too great a reliance on this one-time funding could lead to programmatic cliffs. They noted that creating line items in city, county, or state budgets, and/or creating permanent agencies devoted to community safety could provide stability in financing—especially since political cycles and new administrations can disrupt initiatives that lack permanency. 46 Our Brookings colleagues have also suggested braiding or blending funding streams to increase sustainability, which could involve braiding ARP dollars with  private funding , funding from  surrounding regional jurisdictions , or major new federal investments like those in the  Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act . Finally, municipalities should harness revenue from traditional economic development initiatives to sustain public priorities. For example, Danville City Manager Ken Larking outlined a vision for current development that includes the goal of never being “in a budget crisis where a neighborhood park has to be sacrificed because there isn’t enough money to do police services or whatever else.” And as an added benefit, by tying revenue to priorities that reflect established city values and priorities, governments are held accountable to steering development that benefits the entire community.  

Conclusion 

At the end of 2021, cities and counties had budgeted only 40% of their total ARP allocation (82% of the first of two funding tranches). While more money has been budgeted this year, there is still plenty of funding left to be allocated prior to the 2024 deadline and spent prior to the 2026 deadline. It is vital that state and local leaders seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in community-based violence prevention efforts now, as these programs can take time to establish roots at the local level and scale up. 

By investing in critical community safety infrastructure before the next rise in gun violence, communities will be better supported and equipped to avoid such violence, while also averting the intergenerational consequences that accompany punitive responses to it. As Devanshi Patel of Virginia’s Center for Youth and Family Advocacy said, it is imperative to invest in “restorative justice and community-based programming now to help kids stay out of the legal system” because system-involvement and incarceration can create harms for people and communities that are felt for generations. 

Ultimately, the benefits of addressing the root causes of gun violence go far beyond the shots you don’t hear. In addition to the lives saved, the benefits can be seen in the children playing in parks, the youth finding employment, the sick accessing treatment, the entrepreneurs launching businesses, or neighbors hosting block parties. By investing in economic opportunity, bolstering social cohesion, upgrading the built environment, and strengthening neighborhoods’ civic ties, state and local leaders can create the conditions necessary for long-lasting individual and collective flourishing. 

Acknowledgments:

The authors express their sincere gratitude to the state and local leaders who participated in research interviews to inform this piece: Gregory Baldwin, Thomas Carr, Robert David, Patrick Hogan, Tricia Hummel, Ken Larking, Jessica Meyers, Ahna Minge, Dr. Kiah E. Nyame, Devanshi Patel, Wilford Pinkney Jr., Adam Renon, Raffaele Timarchi, and Kathryn Weeks. The authors also thank the following experts for their review of various drafts of the research brief: Alan Berube, Jennifer S. Vey, and Eli Byerly-Duke (of Brookings Metro), Sam Washington and Thea Sebastian (of Civil Rights Corps), and Leah Sakala (of Alliance for Safety and Justice).  

About the Authors

Research associate – brookings metro, anthony barr, senior research assistant – brookings metro, oluwasekemi odumosu, research intern – brookings metro.

• “Non-carceral” safety interventions are those that exist outside of the formal criminal justice system, and are implemented by actors who are not part of the criminal justice system.
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• Jones, A. (2020). Reforms without Results: Why states should stop excluding violent offenses from criminal justice reforms. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/violence.html#victims
• Branas, C., Buggs, S., Butts, J. A., Harvey, A., Kerrison, E. M., Meares, T., … & Webster, D. (2020). Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence. John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center. Janetta, J., Sakala, L., & Rejon, F. (2020). Federal investment in community-driven public safety. Urban Institute. Sakala, L. and La Vigne, L. (2019). Community-driven models for safety and justice. Du Bois Review, 16:1 253–266.
• Barr, Anthony. & Broady, Kristen. (2021) Dramatically increasing incarceration is the wrong response to the recent uptick in homicides and violent crime. The Brookings Institution. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from http://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2021/11/02/dramatically-increasing-incarceration-is-the-wrong-response-to-the-recent-uptick-in-homicides-and-violent-crime/
• U.S. Department of the Treasury. https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments/state-and-local-fiscal-recovery-funds/recipient-compliance-and-reporting-responsibilities
• In July 2022, The U.S. Department of Treasury released a new batch of reporting that includes data through March 2022 and can be found here: Recipient Compliance and Reporting Responsibilities | U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Geller, A., Fagan, J., & Tyler, T. (2017). Police contact and mental health. Columbia Public Law Research Paper, (14-571). Legewie, J., & Fagan, J. (2019). Aggressive policing and the educational performance of minority youth. American Sociological Review, 84(2), 220-247. Soss, J., & Weaver, V. (2017). Police are our government: Politics, political science, and the policing of race–class subjugated communities. Annual Review of Political Science, 20(1), 565-591. Underwood, E. & Krinsky, M.A. (2019). Millions of children lose their parents to incarceration. That doesn’t have to happen. The Appeal. https://theappeal.org/millions-of-children-lose-their-parents-to-incarceration-that-doesnt-have-to-happen/ Sakala, L., Harvell, S., & Thompson, C. (2018) Public investment in community-driven safety initiatives: Landscape study and key considerations. Urban Institute.
• Our list of interviewees consisted of the following: From Danville, Va.: Gregory Baldwin (Director of Restorative Practices at Center for Youth and Family Advocacy), Robert David (Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Coordinator), Ken Larking (City Manager), and Devanshi Patel (Co-Founder and CEO at Center for Youth and Family Advocacy. From St. Louis: Jessica Meyers (Director, St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Commission) and Wilford Pinkney Jr. (Director, Mayor’s Office of Children, Youth, and Families). From Multnomah County, Ore: Adam Renon (Senior Policy Advisor for Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury) and Raffaele Timarchi (Policy Advisor for Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury). From Minnesota: Thomas Carr (Executive Budget Officer at Minnesota Management & Budget), Patrick Hogan (Director of Communications at Minnesota Management & Budget), Tricia Hummel (Assistant Director, Minnesota Office of Justice Programs), Ahna Minge (Assistant Commissioner for Budget Services and State Budget Director, Minnesota Management & Budget), and Kathryn Weeks (Executive Director, Minnesota Office of Budget Programs). From Rochester, N.Y.: Dr. Kiah E. Nyame (Coordinator, Rochester Office of Neighborhood Safety).
• Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds | U.S. Department of the Treasury
• https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-01-27/pdf/2022-00292.pdf
• Civil Rights Corps. (n.d). Community safety & the American Rescue Plan: A guide to using fiscal recovery grants to advance holistic safety. https://civilrightscorps.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Community-Safety-and-ARP_Policy-Guide_CivRightsCorps.pdf, Lazere, E. (2021). Using federal relief funds to invest in non-police approaches to public safety. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Heuvel, S., Nelson, M., & Nguyen, L. (2021). How the American Rescue Plan can foster an equitable recovery: An equitable recovery requires strategic investments in safety. Vera Institute of Justice.
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (n.d.). Neighborhoods and violent crime. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/summer16/highlight2.html.
• Sebastian, T., Bou, L., & Washington, S. Getting Smart on Safety Evidence on Non-Carceral Investments That Work to Prevent Violence & Harm. Civil Rights Corps.
• Heller, S. B. (2014). Summer jobs reduce violence among disadvantaged youth. Science, 346(6214), 1219-1223.
• Branas, C., Buggs, S., Butts, J. A., Harvey, A., Kerrison, E. M., Meares, T., … & Webster, D. (2020). Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence. John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center.
• South, E. C., MacDonald, J., & Reina, V. (2021). Association between structural housing repairs for low-income Homeowners and neighborhood crime. JAMA network open, 4(7), e2117067-e2117067. Branas, C. C., South, E., Kondo, M. C., Hohl, B. C., Bourgois, P., Wiebe, D. J., & MacDonald, J. M. (2018). Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(12), 2946-2951. Kondo, M. C., South, E. C., Branas, C. C., Richmond, T. S., & Wiebe, D. J. (2017). The association between urban tree cover and gun assault: a case-control and case-crossover study. American journal of epidemiology, 186(3), 289-296. Bondy, M., Roth, S., & Sager, L. (2020). Crime is in the air: The contemporaneous relationship between air pollution and crime. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 7(3), 555-585.
• American Public Health Association. (2018). Violence is a public health issue: Public health is essential to understanding and treating violence in the U.S. https://apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2019/01/28/violence-is-a-public-health-issue.
• Brookings Institution (2022). Interactive: Local government ARPA investment tracker. http://www.brookings.edu/interactives/arpa-investment-tracker/.
• Weisburd, D., White, C., & Wooditch, A. (2020). Does collective efficacy matter at the micro geographic level?: Findings from a study of street segments. The British Journal of Criminology, 60(4), 873-891. Branas, C., Buggs, S., Butts, J. A., Harvey, A., Kerrison, E. M., Meares, T., … & Webster, D. (2020). Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence. John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center.
• Sullivan, William C., Frances E. Kuo, and Stephen F. Depooter. “The fruit of urban nature: Vital neighborhood spaces.” Environment and behavior 36, no. 5 (2004): 678-700.
• Treskon, M., Esthappan, S., Okeke, C., & Vásquez-Noriega, C. (2018). Creative Placemaking and Community Safety: Synthesizing Cross-Cutting Themes. Urban Institute.
• Dholakia, N. & Gilbert, D. (2021). Community violence intervention programs, explained. Vera Institute of Justice. https://www.vera.org/community-violence-intervention-programs-explained?emci=1e33529c-0d38-ec11-9820-c896653b26c8&emdi=c5fd9ca1-1738-ec11-9820-c896653b26c8&ceid=954462. Delgado, S. A., Alsabahi, L., Wolff, K., Alexander, N., Cobar, P., & Butts, J. A. (2021). Denormalizing violence: A series of reports from the John Jay College Evaluation of Cure Violence Programs in New York City. Advance Peace (n.d.). Learning and Evaluation. https://www.advancepeace.org/about/learning-evaluation-impact/.
• Pearl, B. (2020). Beyond policing: Investing in offices of neighbourhood safety. Washington: Center for American Progress. Rust, M., Calvert, S., & Elinson, Z. Murder in America: What makes cities safer. Wall Street Journal. Corburn, J. & Fukutome, A. Advance Peace Stockton: 2018-2020 evaluation. Center for Global Healthy Cities.
• Sakala, L., Harvell, S., Thompson, C. (2018) Public investment in community-driven safety initiatives: Landscape study and key considerations. Urban Institute.
• Sharkey, P., Torrats-Espinosa, G., & Takyar, D. (2017). Community and the crime decline: The causal effect of local nonprofits on violent crime. American Sociological Review, 82(6), 1214-1240. Sharkey, P. (2018). Uneasy peace: The great crime decline, the renewal of city life, and the next war on violence. WW Norton & Company.
• Holder, S., Akinnibi, F., Cannon, C. (2020). ‘We have not defunded anything’: Big cities boost police budgets, CityLab.
• Brachman, L. (2022). Nonprofits’ critical role in deploying federal investments: Observations from the Transforming Cities Lab. Brookings Institution.
• Pearl, B. (2020). Beyond Policing: Investing in Offices of Neighborhood Safety. Center for American Progress

Angela’s Substack

Beyond Gun Violence: Examining Government Oversight and Preventable Deaths in the U.S.

Gun violence is a major topic in the United States, with roughly 48,000 deaths annually, including both homicides and suicides (CDC, 2022). This issue frequently dominates media coverage and political discourse, often leading to calls for stricter gun control measures and raising questions about the protection of Second Amendment rights. However, this intense focus on gun violence, while important, seems disproportionate when compared to the broader and deadlier public health crises caused by preventable deaths from harmful practices in the food, pharmaceutical, and medical industries. The government’s apparent emphasis on restricting firearms, despite the greater harm inflicted by these industries, raises critical concerns about misplaced priorities and the potential erosion of individual rights. This essay aims to shed light on how these industries, bolstered by inadequate government regulation and the corrupting influence of lobbying, contribute to a much higher toll on American lives than gun violence, and questions why the government appears more intent on regulating guns than addressing these more pervasive threats.

Gun Violence in Context Gun-related deaths in the U.S. are significant, with firearms being a leading cause of death among young adults. According to the CDC, involuntary gun deaths, such as homicides and accidental shootings, account for approximately 22,000 deaths annually (CDC, 2021). While this is a critical issue, it represents just a fraction of the broader public health challenges when compared to other preventable causes of death, such as those related to diet, pharmaceuticals, and medical errors.

The Overlooked Killers - Medical Errors, Food-Related Diseases, and Pharmaceutical Misconduct The American healthcare system, often considered one of the most advanced in the world, is not without its flaws. Medical errors are a leading cause of death, responsible for nearly 500,000 deaths annually in the U.S., as highlighted in a Johns Hopkins study (2016). These errors include surgical complications, misdiagnoses, and medication mistakes, underscoring significant systemic issues within the healthcare sector.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) contribute to about 100,000 deaths per year, according to a study published in the BMJ (2016), while medication errors account for an additional 7,000 to 9,000 deaths annually, based on data from the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP). These preventable deaths often result from aggressive pharmaceutical marketing, inadequate testing, and a lack of transparency regarding drug risks.

Diet-related diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are closely linked to the consumption of ultra-processed foods, which often contain harmful ingredients like trans fats, excessive sugars, sodium, artificial additives, and preservatives. Studies show that these foods significantly contribute to chronic illnesses, with the overconsumption of processed items associated with obesity, hypertension, and metabolic disorders. Collectively, diet-related conditions are responsible for approximately 678,000 deaths annually in the U.S. alone, surpassing the total combat deaths in all American wars combined. This alarming figure underscores the need for stricter regulation and oversight of the food industry to reduce the public health impact of processed and ultra-processed foods (Harvard Public Health, 2023; NIH, 2017).

New data suggests that Alzheimer's disease is increasingly being referred to as "Type 3 Diabetes" due to its links with insulin resistance in the brain, driven largely by excessive sugar consumption. This connection highlights the broader impacts of dietary choices on cognitive health, signaling the need for further exploration into the role of sugar in neurodegenerative conditions​.

Government Regulation and the Failure to Protect The U.S. government has a responsibility to protect its citizens, but when it comes to regulating the food, pharmaceutical, and medical industries, it falls short. The infamous food pyramid introduced in the 1980s is a prime example of misguided government guidance that has had long-lasting negative impacts on public health. Despite scientific evidence linking certain ingredients to serious health conditions, many harmful substances remain prevalent in American diets, largely due to powerful lobbying efforts by the food and beverage industries. These guidelines prioritized high carbohydrate consumption while minimizing the risks of excessive sugar and processed foods, contributing to the rise in obesity and diet-related diseases.

Similarly, the pharmaceutical industry's influence over regulation extends to the ongoing crisis of drug addictions and overdose deaths. The aggressive marketing of opioid painkillers, facilitated by lax regulatory oversight, has led to widespread addiction and a devastating increase in drug-related deaths. The revolving door between industry and regulatory bodies, along with a prioritization of profits over patient safety, has contributed to a corrupt system that often neglects public health. In the medical field, systemic issues such as understaffing, underfunding, and inadequate training also play a role in exacerbating the rates of preventable drug-related harms, further underscoring the urgent need for stronger oversight and accountability.

It's a matter of record that the U.S. government was the largest purchaser of cigarettes for its troops, particularly during World War I and World War II, when cigarettes were included in soldiers' rations to help manage stress and boredom. This practice entrenched smoking in military culture, and despite growing evidence of its health risks, the distribution of cigarettes continued until the 1980s, reflecting the deep ties between the military and tobacco companies, as well as the challenges of unwinding such government-corporate relationships. This negligence contributed to a surge in lung cancer deaths among veterans, highlighting the long-term consequences of the government’s failure to protect its service members from known health dangers​.

The Role of Media and Public Perception Media coverage plays a significant role in shaping public perception of risk. Gun violence, with its immediate and tragic impact, often dominates headlines and public discourse, while the slower and more pervasive threats of diet-related diseases, pharmaceutical errors, and medical mistakes receive far less attention. This sensational focus on gun violence can be seen as a diversion—a Jedi mind trick—distracting the public from the more insidious failures of industries that profit from harmful practices supported by lobbying. This imbalance in media coverage contributes to a misinformed public, more concerned with high-visibility threats than with the widespread risks quietly undermining public health.

The government's failure to regulate harmful practices in these industries is further exacerbated by a public that often lacks the agency or awareness to challenge these narratives. Many individuals rely solely on government guidance and media representation, failing to question the broader implications of their dietary and health choices. This lack of critical thinking and personal agency not only endangers individuals but also contributes to a societal decline where preventable deaths are overlooked in favor of more sensational issues.

Counterarguments and Broader Perspective on Injuries Critics of gun ownership often cite the high number of gun-related injuries, approximately 80,000 to 100,000 annually, as justification for stricter gun control laws or even measures that could infringe upon Second Amendment rights (CDC, 2022). While the severity of gun injuries should not be downplayed, it is important to put these figures in context. When compared to the roughly 2.3 to 2.5 million people injured in car accidents each year, the number of gun-related injuries is significantly smaller (NHTSA, 2022). Despite the staggering toll of car accidents, including injuries and fatalities, there is no widespread movement to ban cars or impose severe restrictions on their use.

This comparison underscores a critical point: society tends to accept certain risks as part of daily life, especially when they are associated with widely used tools or activities, like driving. The public discourse around gun violence, however, often focuses on the immediate impact and sensational nature of shootings, overshadowing the broader context of injury and risk. The call for stricter gun control based solely on injury statistics, without a comparable response to other common causes of injury, reflects a potential inconsistency in regulatory priorities.

Moreover, firearms are not only associated with harm; they also play a significant role in self-defense and saving lives. Studies suggest that firearms are used defensively by law-abiding citizens between 500,000 and 2.5 million times each year in the United States, often without a single shot being fired (Kleck & Gertz, 1995). These defensive uses can prevent assaults, home invasions, robberies, and other crimes, highlighting a crucial aspect of gun ownership that is frequently overlooked in the debate. When considering regulation, it is important to acknowledge not only the risks but also the protective benefits that firearms can provide.

While it is essential to address gun violence and its impact, a balanced approach that considers all preventable injuries and deaths is necessary. Focusing disproportionately on gun-related injuries without addressing other significant causes, such as car accidents, may suggest that the intent behind such regulation is not purely about public safety but could be influenced by other factors, including political and ideological motivations. A comprehensive public safety strategy should include an evaluation of all significant risks and the positive roles that responsible gun ownership can play in personal protection.

Conclusion and Call to Action The comparison between gun violence and other preventable deaths reveals a critical need for broader public awareness and government accountability. Diet-related diseases, pharmaceutical errors, and medical mistakes claim far more lives than firearms, yet these issues remain underregulated and underreported. While the government focuses on gun control, pushing measures that could infringe on Second Amendment rights, it fails to adequately address the systemic failures within industries that cause far more harm. This suggests a misalignment of priorities, potentially driven by financial interests and lobbying rather than genuine public health concerns. To protect public health, it is essential to demand stronger regulations on food, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare practices, challenge corrupt industry influences, and foster a society where individuals are equipped with the agency to make informed health decisions.

As we call for change, it is vital to recognize that individual action begins at home. There is an old adage: "Remove the plank from your own eye before you remove the speck from your brother’s eye" (Matthew 7:3-5). Before demanding systemic change, we must first address our own habits and choices that contribute to these broader issues. This includes making healthier food choices, critically evaluating the medications we take, and questioning the narratives presented to us. By fixing our own problems, we set a foundation for broader societal change, urging the government to realign its focus on the most significant threats to public health and respect the balance of rights enshrined in the Constitution. By addressing these more pervasive issues, we can better safeguard not only our health but also our freedoms.

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Community Gun Violence

What is community gun violence  .

Community gun violence is a form of interpersonal gun violence (assaults) that takes place between individuals who are not related or in an intimate relationship. It typically occurs in public places — streets, parks, front porches — in communities across America, and it makes up most gun homicides that occur in the United States. 1 Most community gun violence is highly concentrated within under-resourced neighborhoods impacted by a legacy of discriminatory public policies. 2,3 Consequently, Black and Hispanic/Latino Americans are disproportionately impacted by community gun violence.  

Community gun violence is a form of interpersonal gun violence that:

Takes place in under-resourced neighborhoods.

and affects disinvested communities

Disproportionately impacts Black and Hispanic/Latino communities

specifically young Black and Hispanic/Latino men  

Usually occurs outside of the home in a public setting 

Excludes domestic and intimate partner violence

Often is sparked by a dispute between individuals or groups

and may be retaliatory because of long-standing conflicts  

Who is Impacted by Community Violence? 

Black Americans were nearly 14 times as likely to be murdered by firearm as their white counterparts in 2021. Young Black males ages 15-34 made up 2% of the U.S. population but account for 36% of all firearm homicide fatalities that year. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for Black males ages 15-34. 4

In 2021, gun violence was the second leading cause of death for Hispanic/Latino males under the age of 34, and Hispanic/Latino males ages 15-34 are 3.4 times more likely to be murdered by firearm than their White (non-Hispanic/Latino) counterparts. 5

Firearm Homicide Rates by Disproportionately Impacted Populations, 2019-2021 (rates per 100,000 people)   

Difference in Gun Homicide Rates by Gender and Race/Ethnicity, 2022

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death. Gun Deaths and Rates per 100,000. WONDER Online Database, 1999-2022.

*The total number of gun homicide deaths for female Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander were less than 10 and thus repressed by CDC.

Where does Community Gun Violence Occur?  

Community gun violence is geographically concentrated in a small number of under-resourced neighborhoods composed of predominantly Black and Hispanic/Latino residents. For example, an analysis of firearm homicide data from 2015 found that 26% of all firearm homicides in the United States occurred in census tracts that contained only 1.5% of the American population. 6    

These neighborhoods suffer from underfunded social services, few economic opportunities, and concentrated poverty. 7    

Often public attention focuses on cities with high homicide rates, with little attention given to where, within the city, violence occurs and which communities bear the brunt of it. St. Louis, a city that frequently tops the charts in terms of homicides, illustrates how gun violence is geographically concentrated. An analysis of 2015 data found that 42% of the city’s homicides occurred in just 8 out of the city’s 79 residential neighborhoods. 8 Among the homicides that year, nine people were murdered by firearms in nine separate shootings, all within one 0.4 square mile census tract. 9    

Community gun violence is not just confined to cities. In fact, many rural communities are also impacted by gun violence. Ten of the 20 counties with the highest gun homicide rates from 2019 to 2021 were rural. 10 Out of 3,142 counties, Lowndes County, Alabama, with only 10,000 residents, had the country’s highest homicide rate from 2019 to 2021. Meanwhile, Cook County (Chicago), which often captures the media’s attention around violence, had the 61st highest gun homicide rate.  To adequately address the crisis of community gun violence policymakers must understand its uneven distribution, and the populations, both in rural and urban America, that are most impacted.

"To reduce community gun violence, strategies must be informed by detailed data on the drivers and circumstances surrounding shootings and involve strategic partnerships between government agencies and community-based organizations who can effectively engage with those at highest risk and counteract the drivers of gun violence." Daniel Webster, ScD '91, MPH  Distinguished Research Scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions

Small Social Networks  

Even within the neighborhoods with the highest levels of violence, only a few individuals are involved in gun violence, and those involved are often both the perpetrator and victim. 11,12,13 Analyses in a variety of cities have found that small networks of individuals -- sometimes as little as a couple hundred in a city of millions -- are involved in most of the city’s shootings. In Oakland, for instance, just 0.1% of the population were responsible for the majority of the city’s homicides, 14 while in New Orleans, networks of 600 to 700 individuals are linked to most of the city’s murders. 15 Even within Chicago’s highest violence neighborhoods, those who have a social network in which someone was murdered are 900% more likely to die of homicide than neighboring residents. 16 The vast majority of homicides in each of these cities are by firearms.  

Community gun violence can be reduced through narrowly tailored interventions which focus on the small number of individuals caught in cycles of violence.  

What Factors Influence Community Gun Violence?

Social and economic inequalities are often at the root of community gun violence. These inequalities are caused by racist policies like redlining and exclusionary zoning laws that target communities of color and create segregated and underinvested neighborhoods. 17 The same neighborhoods struggling with community gun violence also face multiple economic challenges including the lack of access to healthy food, shortage of affordable housing, high rates of environmental lead exposure, inadequate education, few jobs, and limited opportunities. 18,19  

Within many neighborhoods with high rates of violence, the unemployment rate is over 20%. 20 The typical household within a high poverty neighborhood has a net worth of $7,000 -- 1/40th  of the typical household in a low poverty neighborhood. 21 Likewise, there is often a lack of educational opportunities, as the schools are chronically underfunded. 22  Over a quarter of adults living in high poverty neighborhoods lack a high school diploma and only 14% have attained a bachelor's degree. 23 These deep structural disadvantages combined with easy access to guns create the conditions for community gun violence. 

Conditions that increase the likelihood of community gun violence include:

→ easy access to guns by people at elevated risk for violence 24    , → income inequality 25  , → concentrated poverty 26    , → underfunded public housing 27  , → under-resourced public services 28  , → underperforming schools 29  , → lack of opportunity and perceptions of hopelessness 30  , → police brutality and lack of police legitimacy 31  , how policing practices impact community gun violence.

Policing, if applied correctly, can serve as an important role in effectively addressing community gun violence. Policing gun violence requires strategic use of police resources focused on the people, places and behaviors that contribute to violence. Research shows that properly implemented policing strategies including, hot spots policing, focused deterrence, and enhanced shooting investigations can reduce community gun violence, and strengthen trust with the community. 32  

Police should focus patrol activities to locations identified as “hot spots” for gun violence, driven by real-time data of shootings. These enforcement strategies must be conducted in a lawful, procedurally just manner to prevent harms and promote police legitimacy. Police can also allocate resources to high-risk places and address underlying problems, like poor lighting, which contribute to violence. Hot spot policing strategies are associated with reductions in violent crime and disorder. 33  

Police should partner with community-based organizations and social service agencies to create a focused deterrence, or group violence intervention model. This model aims on changing the behavior of the small groups of people involved in gun violence. Individuals are offered opportunities and resources to change their behavior. Law enforcement dedicate resources toward apprehending those that continue to engage in gun violence. This strategy works best when there is a balance between law enforcement deterrents and supports from community-based organizations. 34  

Unsolved shootings contribute to gun violence by depriving victims and their families of justice and exacerbating police-community relations. In many jurisdictions only a fraction of gun crimes are solved. Homicides and shootings of Black people, or that occur in under-resourced neighborhoods, are solved at far lower rates than homicides and shootings of white people or that occur in wealthier neighborhoods. 35,36 Police should prioritize fatal and nonfatal shooting investigations, particularly those that occur in under-resourced neighborhoods, to address low clearance rates and interrupt the cycle of gun violence. When police departments increase resources and personnel to investigate shootings (both fatal and nonfatal), they can solve more shootings. 37  

Building Police Legitimacy is Essential to Reducing Community Gun Violence  

Police legitimacy is the way community members trust in, and are willing to work with, the police. It is a vital component in reducing community gun violence. When communities view the police force as legitimate, they are more willing to work with law enforcement to identify and detain those responsible for committing acts of gun violence, and to intervene before conflicts develop into shootings. Likewise, when police legitimacy is strong, victims of violence feel safe and can rely on formal channels of justice to bring about closure, instead of resorting to retaliation. 38  

Police brutality and widespread discrimination undermine police legitimacy, and thereby fuel community gun violence. In many Black and Hispanic communities distrust in law enforcement stems from a legacy of racist policies and violence, often carried out by police. Compounded upon this history is the ongoing crisis of mass incarceration and police brutality. 39 Research consistently highlights racial disparities at virtually every step within the criminal justice system. Black males are stopped by police, arrested, denied bail, wrongfully convicted, issued longer sentences, and shot by police at much higher rates than white Americans. 40  

Unsurprisingly, when individuals experience police discrimination or brutality, they are less likely to trust or rely on law enforcement. Consequently, these community members are reticent to report criminal activity or act as witnesses in criminal investigations. Instead, some rely on informal channels of justice – like retaliatory violence – to resolve conflict. 41  

A 2016 study examined the relationships between police brutality, police legitimacy, and homicide rates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The authors examined the highly publicized, brutal beating of an unarmed Black man, Frank Jude, by Milwaukee police officers in 2004. The authors found that in the year after the beating, calls for police services dropped dramatically in the city, particularly in underserved minoritized neighborhoods. In the year following the beating there were 22,200 fewer 911 calls. This decrease in 911 calls coincided with a spike in homicides. In the six months following this beating, homicides in Milwaukee increased by 32%. 42 The authors conclude that this one act of police brutality eroded trust in law enforcement and likely contributed to increases in gun violence. This study illustrates how police brutality is both unconscionable in its own right and may fuel community gun violence.   

Police departments should build an organizational culture to address police misconduct and discrimination through internal policy changes, including hiring, training, use of force, and accountability practices. 

Gun Homicide Rate by Race and Age, 2022

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death. Gun Deaths and Rates per 100,000. WONDER Online Database, 1999-2022. 

How can Community Gun Violence be Prevented?

Reduce the flow of illegal guns into impacted communities.

Stemming the flow of illegal guns into Black and Hispanic/Latino communities is vital to reducing community gun violence. There are no federally licensed firearms dealers in many communities most impacted by gun violence, yet there is often an abundance of firearms. Gun violence prevention policies that address firearm trafficking and prevent dangerous people from accessing firearms play an important role in reducing community gun violence. These laws include firearm purchaser licensing laws with universal background checks and lost and stolen firearm reporting laws.   

Each year an estimated 380,000 firearms are stolen in the U.S yet only 240,000 are reported to law enforcement. 43,44 This suggests that an estimated 140,000 gun thefts are not reported to law enforcement each year. Laws that require gun owners to promptly report lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement can help prevent firearm trafficking. These laws both increase gun seller accountability and provide police with a tool to combat firearm traffickers. States that have lost and stolen firearm reporting laws were associated with 30% lower rates of crime gun exports to other states compared to states without such laws. 45  

Firearm purchaser licensing laws, also known as permit-to-purchase, require an individual to qualify for and obtain a license before acquiring or owning a firearm. Individuals generally must fill out an in-person application at the police department, be fingerprinted, and undergo a comprehensive criminal background check. Firearm purchaser licensing laws are found to be effective at deterring individuals who commit violent crimes and gun traffickers from obtaining firearms. For example, the repeal of Missouri’s licensing law was associated with the increased diversion of guns into the illegal market. 46 Research also shows that licensing laws are an effective policy to prevent firearm homicides. Licensing laws are associated with an 11% reduction in firearm homicides in urban counties. 47    

In 2022, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was only able to inspect approximately nine percent of the 78,000 licensed gun dealers in the United States as a result of insufficient resources and legal restrictions. 48  Federal immunity laws, including the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLACA), and additional exemptions from 34 states provide additional protections for gun manufacturers, dealers, and other industry-related members from liability and accountability in court. 49 Comprehensive gun dealer reforms, including strong gun dealer regulations and oversight, should be prioritized to hold gun dealers accountable when they break the law. Additionally, states can pass legislation to hold the gun industry accountable for reckless marketing practices. They can expand the ability of victims and/or public officials to bring lawsuits to civil court against the gun industry manufacturers for misconduct.

Deploy policing strategies that are highly focused and that increase trust within communities most impacted by gun violence

Law enforcement play an essential role in curbing community gun violence by enforcing gun laws and detaining those who commit gun crimes. Police department should deploy strategies that are highly focused on the small number of individuals involved in gun violence, the areas where gun violence concentrates and the criminal behaviors that contribute to violence. Evidence consistently shows that a range of these policing strategies can reduce levels of gun violence. 50  

For police departments to maintain sustained reductions in violence they need to be viewed as legitimate institutions in the communities most impacted by violence. Policymakers and police departments must work to improve relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. To do this, police departments should adopt procedurally just practices. Procedural justice requires a long-term commitment from law enforcement leaders to institute a culture in which police see the community as partners and respond to the expressed needs of the community. In order for these partnerships to take root there must be a law enforcement culture of transparency and citizen oversight. Community members should feel they have a voice in the decision-making process and decisions should be made in a fair and neutral way. 51,52 For procedurally just practices to work, police must also be effective in curbing violence.   

Community violence intervention and prevention programs  

Community violence intervention and prevention efforts work with those impacted by gun violence to reduce the cycles of community gun violence, address the underlying causes of gun violence, and promote health equity. Community violence intervention and prevention programs bring together community members, social service providers, and, in some cases, law enforcement to identify and provide support for individuals at highest risk for gun violence. They also help individuals cope with the trauma that is associated with living in neighborhoods where witnessing gun violence is routine.  

Violence Reduction Councils (VRC)

An interdisciplinary, data-driven and public health-focused approach to violence prevention and intervention.  

VRCs create a framework for community members from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and identify recommendations proven to: prevent violence, meet the unique needs of the community, and rebuild trust among local governments, law enforcement and community members

VISIT THE VRC WEBSITE READ THE TOOLKIT

Effective violence intervention and prevention programs, street outreach and violence interruption programs.

In the street outreach and violence interruption model, outreach workers are trained to identify conflicts within their community and help resolve disputes before they spiral into gun violence. These outreach workers are credible members of the community and well-respected by individuals at a high risk of violence. Outreach workers use their credibility to interrupt cycles of retaliatory violence, help connect high risk individuals to social services, and change norms around using guns to solve conflicts.  

Violence interruption programs, like the Cure Violence model , have been used successfully in multiple cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. An evaluation of Baltimore’s Cure Violence program found that it was associated with a 22% reduction in homicides and 23% reduction in nonfatal shootings from 2007 to 2021. 53,   54  

Group Violence Intervention / Focused Deterrence

In the Group Violence Intervention / Focused Deterrence model, prosecutors and police work with community leaders to identify a small group of individuals who are chronic violent offenders and are at high risk for future violence. High risk individuals are called into a meeting and are told that if violence continues, every legal tool available will be used to ensure they face swift and certain consequences. These individuals are simultaneously connected to social services and community support to assist them in changing their behavior.  

An analysis of 24 focused deterrence programs found that these strategies led to an overall statistically significant reduction in firearm violence. The most successful of these programs have reduced violent crime in cities by an average of 30% and improved relations between law enforcement officers and the neighborhoods they serve. 55    

Trauma-informed Programs with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Trauma-informed programs that employ cognitive behavioral therapy to those at risk for violence have experienced significant decreases in firearm violence. 56 Cognitive behavioral therapy helps high risk individuals cope with trauma while simultaneously providing new tools to de-escalate conflict.  

Trauma-informed programs in Chicago that provide high risk youth with cognitive behavioral therapy and mentoring cut violent crime arrests in half. 57  

Violence Reduction Councils / Homicide Review Commissions

Violence reduction Councils (also known as homicide review commissions) bring together law enforcement, public health agencies, community members, criminal justice stakeholders, and service providers to examine firearm violence within their community. Stakeholders collaboratively develop comprehensive interventions that identify high risk individuals and address the underlying factors that lead to violence.  

The homicide review commission in Milwaukee was associated with a significant and sustained 52% reduction in homicides. 58 A Department of Justice evaluation found homicide review commissions to be an effective way to reduce gun violence by building trust between criminal justice stakeholders and the community. 59  

Programs that clean and rehabilitate blighted and abandoned property

These programs prevent gun violence by reducing the locations where illegal guns are stored and often where illegal activity linked to gun violence occurs. Likewise, these programs increase the connectedness between neighbors and strengthen the informal social controls that deter violence.  

An evaluation of a blight remediation program in Philadelphia found that it was associated with a decrease in gun violence by 39% over one year and improved community health. 60  

Comprehensive Investments in Violence Intervention and Prevention Programs  

When properly funded and implemented, community violence intervention and prevention efforts reduce gun violence. Federal, state, and local governments have the ability to support violence intervention and prevention efforts by providing funding, staffing, technical assistance and capacity building.   

City level efforts to address community gun violence:  

Cities can support community violence intervention programs by making them an integral part of city government, like any other city service. Many cities have created offices of violence prevention and intervention (often also called offices of neighborhood safety) to build, fund, and coordinate community violence intervention and prevention efforts across the city.   

These agencies, often housed in a public health department or within the mayor’s office, can lead a public health-based approach to violence prevention by convening city agencies, services providers, and community-based organizations involved in violence prevention. They can do this through creating a framework like the Violence Reduction Council , in which key stakeholders in the city work together to identify the risk and protective factors within a city and develop interventions informed by data.   

Oakland, California provides an excellent example of how investing in CVI, in partnership with law enforcement, can promote reforms in policing and reduce violence. Oakland adopted a special tax that provides significant and consistent funding for CVI programs. In 2012, the city implemented Ceasefire , a program that conducts in-depth problem analysis to identify individuals and groups involved in gun violence and engage these individuals with a clear message from law enforcement and the community that the violence must stop. Significant outreach and social support were offered in addition to a deterrence message. Additionally, the city invested in violence interruption and hospital-based violence intervention programs to provide a wide-range of support to those at highest risk for violence.   

Research showed that the Oakland program was associated with a city-wide 32 percent reduction in shootings through 2017 that was concentrated in the areas and groups that were engaged by the program. 61 Importantly, the partnership between communities, CVI programs, and law enforcement also facilitated important reforms in policing. A large reduction in shootings was achieved while reducing arrests and excessive use of force by police. 62  

State-level efforts to address community gun violence:

An increasing number of states have begun to build infrastructure to support CVI through sustained funding, technical assistance, and coordination. In 2017, only five states funded CVI related efforts; by 2021, fifteen states have funded such efforts committing to a total of $690 million. 63  

State-level efforts vary widely in the types of CVI programs they support and the ways they support such programs. Some states primarily fund CVI models, like group violence intervention, which rely on law enforcement-community partnerships, while, others support non-law enforcement interventions, like violence interruption and hospital-based intervention programs.

Evaluations of state level efforts in Connecticut and Massachusetts – early states to fund CVI have found promising results. Connecticut’s state-funded group violence intervention program was associated with a 21% decrease in shootings in New Haven each month that the program was in effect. 64 Massachusetts’s state funded CVI program offers trauma informed case management and wrap-around services to young men who are involved in gun violence. Ongoing evaluations of this program, which now operates in 14 cities across the state, found that it was associated with lower rates of incarceration, reduced violent victimization among participants, and city level homicide and aggravated assault victimization rates among young men. 65 In 2018, the program was associated with 815 fewer victims of violent crime among those ages 14-24. The evaluation found that for every $1 spent on the program, $5 in crime related costs were saved. 66    

Offices of Violence Gun Prevention  

 A growing number of states are investing in state level offices of gun violence prevention. These offices build the infrastructure to bring together various state agencies to more comprehensively address the multiple forms of gun violence. Many of these offices focus on CVI efforts, coordinating and funding CVI programs across the state. To date, at least six states have created offices of gun violence prevention. 67  

Federal efforts to address community gun violence:  

Tireless advocacy from community violence intervention and prevention advocates across the country has led to sizable investments in community gun violence at the federal level and increasing capacity-building to support CVI programs. Through executive action, the Biden administration opened over 2 dozen grant programs spanning 5 departments to allow community violence intervention and prevention efforts to qualify for federal funding. As part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the U.S. Department of Justice received $150 million for CVI development, implementation and evaluation in the FY 2023 budget. 68 As a result of these new federal efforts, CVI organizations across the country have received unprecedented federal support.

In the Fall of 2023, the Biden Administration announced the creation of a White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention charged with helping to expand upon and implement the executive actions taken by the Biden Administratio, including providing ongoing support for CVI efforts. 69  

Taken together, these local, state and federal investments to build out strong community violence intervention and prevention programs are a promising development that has the potential to reduce community gun violence in communities across the United States.   

• There is not a standardized definition of community gun violence. However, community gun violence, as defined on this page, accounts for the majority of gun homicides.  
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Two years and a major ruling later, bruen continues to turn gun law into ‘choose your own adventure’.

Here’s a rundown of what we’ve seen the past couple of weeks.

Go beyond the headlines.

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Last week, a federal judge in Kansas issued an unprecedented ruling : U.S. District Judge John Broomes, a Trump appointee, held that a longtime ban on possessing machine guns is unconstitutional, dismissing charges against a man indicted for having one. The decision isn’t likely to stand for long, Second Amendment scholar Jacob Charles wrote on social media, but “the fact it occurred is another signal that Bruen” — the landmark 2022 Supreme Court case that imposed a hazy “history and tradition” test for gun cases — “is simply choose your own adventure.” 

The metaphor is apt. Post-Bruen, gun lawsuits can move through the courts the same way a 10-year-old flips through a “ Give Yourself Goosebumps ” book: When it seems like you hit a dead end, you can quickly backtrack and wind your way through alternate paths until you “win.” Several recent legal decisions and developments, citing or echoing Bruen, have demonstrated this back-and-forth. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve seen the past couple of weeks.

First, more from federal courts: On Monday, the 8th Circuit officially overturned Missouri’s “Second Amendment sanctuary” law , which penalized police in the state from enforcing certain federal gun restrictions. That decision came on the heels of another 8th Circuit gun ruling: Earlier this month, the federal appeals court found that the ATF’s rule about pistol braces , a popular accessory for AR-15-style pistols, is “arbitrary and capricious,” and directed a request to block it back to a lower court. The notoriously conservative 5th Circuit, meanwhile, delivered some welcome news to criminal justice reform advocates: Judges said that a habitual marijuana user can’t be barred from having guns, ruling that “history and tradition before us support, at most, a ban on carrying firearms while an individual is presently under the influence.” The Justice Department this week urged a federal judge to toss a Florida challenge to a Biden administration rule meant to reduce the number of firearms sold without background checks. Florida, which revised its lawsuit this month, argues that the rule is costing it tax revenue from gun shows.

In state-level news, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court struck down a 67-year-old law banning switchblades, finding that under Bruen, the weapons are protected arms under the Second Amendment. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton is throwing a fit — and opening a legal can of worms — over the State Fair’s decision to ban all guns at this October’s event in response to a shooting there last year. And as The Trace’s Will Van Sant detailed this week, a gun rights group was forced to drop its challenge to a Colorado’s ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines after, as the group’s executive director put it, “some friendly fire within the gun rights world”: The case crumbled after the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade group, refused to allow its researcher to be deposed in the case.

Finally, a development concerning the country’s highest judicial body: Gun rights groups are asking the Supreme Court to take up a case that would decide whether state restrictions on AR-15-style rifles are constitutional. Should the court add it to the upcoming term, that means justices could more definitively determine the limits — or lack thereof — of the Second Amendment. (Cooper & Kirk, a D.C. law firm connected to a secret multimillion-dollar operation to dismantle America’s gun laws, is one of the entities involved in the effort.)

So what does it all add up to? Even after the Supreme Court’s opinion this summer in U.S. v. Rahimi , a major gun case in which justices tried to clarify the bounds of Bruen’s constitutional test, not much has changed since 2022 — litigants are still choosing their own adventure. As Frederick Vars, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, told The Trace’s Chip Brownlee two years ago, “The law is now unsettled.” It remains so.

From The Trace

• The Country’s Biggest Ghost Gun Manufacturer Has Shuttered : As its products increasingly turned up at crime scenes, Polymer80 drew scrutiny from law enforcement and policymakers.
• Gun Industry Trade Association Derails Challenge to Colorado’s Large-Capacity Magazine Ban : A pro-Second Amendment group sought to overturn the state’s restrictions on ammunition magazines. The case crumbled after the National Shooting Sports Foundation refused to allow scrutiny of its research.
• We’re Hiring an Assistant Engagement Editor : The Trace is seeking an assistant engagement editor to elevate our gun violence reporting across a range of channels.

What to Know This Week

Florida’s extreme risk protection order law, often referred to as a “red flag” law, was associated with an 11 percent reduction in gun homicides from 2019 to 2021, according to a recent study. The research is among the first to link these policies with a significant decrease in firearm homicides. Florida’s red flag law was enacted with bipartisan support after the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland — but as The Trace’s Mike Spies revealed , these policies are under unprecedented threat from a radical gun rights group’s “Capture the Flag” legal campaign. [ JAMA ] 

In June, YouTube said it would prevent minors from seeing videos that promote “do-it-yourself” firearms. But a new report from the Tech Transparency Project found that the platform is failing to enforce those age restrictions. The watchdog group’s test account for a 14-year-old was pointed to videos featuring auto sears, 3D-printed guns, and homemade silencers. [ Bloomberg ] 

Many Americans living in rural areas experience higher rates of shootings — including police shootings, per a new study — than their urban counterparts. In Kern County, California, which had the highest gun homicide rate in California per capita between 2016 and 2021, residents are desperate to understand what’s driving the violence, and how they can stop it. [ Axios / The Guardian ] 

In 2020, the police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake Jr. and the subsequent killings of two protesters by Kyle Rittenhouse turned Kenosha, Wisconsin, into a lightning rod for nationwide anger. The tensions were still present two years later, echoing amid a debate over local gun policies and concerns about law enforcement. As the presidential election approaches, where do community members stand now? [ NPR ] 

Saturday marks five years since a shooter killed seven people and injured 25 others during a highway rampage in Odessa, Texas. The small town, located in the state’s Permian Basin region, is unveiling a monument to the lives lost in the tragedy and their loved ones. For Rosie Granados, whose twin sister was killed, this time of year is especially painful: “It’s like time passes, but it also freezes.” [ The Texas Tribune ] 

A federal judge threw out major felony charges against two former Louisville, Kentucky, officers accused of preparing a falsified search warrant that led to police killing Breonna Taylor in 2020. The judge wrote that “there is no direct link between the warrantless entry” and Taylor being shot by officers raiding her home, and ruled that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired a single shot at what he thought were intruders, were instead the legal cause of her death. [ Louisville Courier Journal / Associated Press ]

In Memoriam

Andrea Rodriguez Avila, 21, “knew what she was capable of,” a close friend said — the type of person who “knew what she wanted and how to get it.” Avila was found shot and killed in her dorm room at Rice University in Houston this week. She grew up in Maryland, and had transferred to Rice this past spring after obtaining her associate’s degree from the Community College of Baltimore County. She threw herself into academic life: At the community college, Avila served as president of an honor society, chaired the student programming board, and was active in several other student organizations; at Rice, where she majored in political science, she was a student ambassador, a representative on the Honor Council, and a peer academic adviser. She spent last summer in a prestigious internship at Johns Hopkins University. Avila’s ambition was clear to all who knew her — but just as clear was her readiness to support those around her. “She was just really brave and really balanced in doing things,” the friend said. “She was self-assured.”

We Recommend

The Thin Purple Line : On the dubious rise of the private — and increasingly armed — security industry. [ Harper’s ]

“People tend to talk a lot about gun violence in big cities. But a lot of our rural areas are ignored.”

— Juan Avila, the chief operating officer of Garden Pathways, a community-based violence interruption and mentorship program, on gun violence in rural Kern County, California, to The Guardian

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The Country’s Biggest Ghost Gun Manufacturer Has Shuttered

As its products increasingly turned up at crime scenes, Polymer80 drew scrutiny from law enforcement and policymakers.

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Gun violence was leading cause of death for US kids and teens in 2021, study finds

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741741 or visit  SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources  for additional resources.  

Gun-related deaths among children in the U.S. reached a distressing peak in 2021 , claiming 4,752 young lives and surpassing the  record total  seen during the first year of the pandemic, a new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data found. 

The alarming statistic clearly indicated that America’s gun violence epidemic has gotten worse, experts say. 

More than 80% of the gun deaths were among males 19 and younger. Black male children were more likely to die from homicide. White males 19 and younger were more likely to kill themselves with guns.

“This is undoubtedly one of our chief public health crises in this country,” said Dr. Chethan Sathya, a pediatric trauma surgeon at Northwell Health in New York and the lead author of the study, which was published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. “The most likely reason that your child will die in this country is at the hands of a firearm. That’s not acceptable.”

This grim reality marks the second consecutive year in which gun-related injuries have solidified their position as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents, surpassing motor vehicles, drug overdoses and cancer. 

There are no signs of this trend slowing, Sathya said.

Nearly two-thirds of the deaths in 2021 were homicides, although unintentional shootings have killed many children. No matter how young the victims, pediatric gun-related deaths have left their mark on nearly every corner of the U.S. 

In recent months, a 3-year-old in  Florida  died after shooting himself with a handgun. In  California , a 3-year-old killed his 1-year-old sister with a handgun. A 2-year-old in  Michigan  died after finding an “unsecured firearm.” Just last week, a 6-year-old in Florida  was fatally shot  by a 9-year-old. 

Black children continue to be disproportionately affected.

From 2018 to 2021, there was a nearly 42% increase in the rate of children killed by guns, according to the analysis. The fatalities continued to increase in 2021, with more than 4,700 reported gun-related child deaths, an almost 9% increase in the rate compared with 2020.

Researchers had expected to see a decrease in gun-related deaths among children in 2021, following their sharp increase in 2020, which had been believed to be driven by pandemic-induced lockdowns and children being confined at home. 

Those projections, however, were not realized.

“This was surprising to many of us,” Sathya said, adding that the country has potentially entered an “alarming new baseline” in which it will continue to see more gun deaths in children.

Out of those 2021 fatalities, 64.3% were homicides, 29.9% were suicides and 3.5% resulted from unintentional injury, according to the analysis. 

The burden of gun homicides among children has disproportionately affected communities of color. 

Black children accounted for 67.3% of gun-related homicides, with a nearly twofold death rate increase from 2020. White children accounted for 78.4% of gun-related suicides. 

Overall, Black children represented half of all gun-related deaths.

The disparities between Black and white children match what has been found in earlier research, according to Nirmita Panchal, a senior policy analyst at KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

“Communities of color have seen a stark increase in these deaths compared to their white peers,” she said. Furthermore, young survivors of gun-related injuries may face additional challenges that extend beyond their physical trauma, she added. They are also more susceptible to developing mental health problems and substance use disorders.

When examining gun-related deaths among children geographically, southern states — such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina — and Montana bore a greater burden of fatalities, although researchers are beginning to see increasing rates in the Midwest, according to the analysis.

Older adolescents, ages 15 to 19, accounted for 82.6% of gun-related deaths in 2021. Across the U.S., higher poverty levels correlated with higher death rates from guns.

“Structural inequity, structural racism, social determinants of health, food insecurity are all root drivers of violence,” including gun violence, Sathya said.

Dr. Emily Lieberman, a pediatrician with Lurie Children’s Hospital, survived the  Highland Park Shooting in Chicago  last year, along with her husband and two children.

“I was not a hero that day. I saved no one, I helped no one but my family, and when I did leave that day alive, I knew that I was changed forever,” she said.

Lieberman said she wished she had been surprised by the latest statistics on pediatric gun deaths. But because of a lack of legislation from lawmakers targeting guns, she believes the death toll will only be higher next year.

“We are seeing every day countless children dying, perishing from gun violence,” she said. “It is affecting everyone, everywhere and only getting worse.”

Panchal noted members of Congress have focused on youth mental health, including expanding school-based mental health services and providing trauma care.

Sathya said he has advocated for better background checks and safer storage of weapons. He also said there needed to be more research into the root causes of gun violence.

“Although we can say this is an issue that might not affect everybody, it really does,” he said. “If you look at the spikes in gun injuries, it’s hitting all communities. It doesn’t matter where you live.”

This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com .

Berkeley Lovelace Jr. is a health and medical news reporter for NBC News.

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Safety in Numbers is a monthly newsletter highlighting the latest research at Everytown

Part One: Gun Violence Prevention

Reducing the risk.

Learn More:

• Child & Teen Gun Safety
• Extreme Risk Laws
• Guns in Schools
• Mass Shootings
• Reconsider Active Shooter Drills
• Secure Gun Storage
• Stop Arming Teachers

Executive Summary

The prevention section of the NEA School Gun Violence Prevention and Response Guide highlights recommended strategies to reduce the risk and prevent the occurrence of gun violence incidents in education settings and communities. It includes taking actions to foster a positive and safe climate and limit access to firearms that could be used in acts of violence. For broader context and related recommendations, consult the other sections of this guide: Introduction , Part Two—Preparation , Part Three—Response , and Part Four—Recovery .

Key Takeaways

• Across all education settings, prevention efforts should be geared toward creating an environment that fosters trust-building, connection, and a sense of belonging for students. These efforts should include the use of trauma-informed and restorative practices.
• Educators can play a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of trauma and fostering a positive school climate, but their efforts must be supported with adequate funding and sufficient staffing.
• Promoting the adoption of gun violence-related bargaining language and administrative policy, including the creation or enhancement of health and safety committees, is another effective way to prevent gun violence.

Trauma-informed and restorative practices play a crucial role in maintaining strong connections between students, their peers, and educators within the school community. Across all education settings, prevention efforts are geared toward creating an environment that fosters trust-building and a sense of belonging for students. 

Combating feelings of isolation and alienation among students relates directly to preventing gun violence because the majority of Pre-K–12 and higher education shooters maintained some level of affiliation with their educational institutions. Individuals who carried out a mass shooting in a Pre-K–12 school often exhibited behaviors of concern in advance, and 75 percent of the time at least one person, often a peer, was aware of the plan. 1 National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf ; Violence Prevention Project. (n.d.). Key Findings. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from Violence Prevention Project:  https://www.theviolenceproject.org/key-findings/ .

Educators can play a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of trauma and fostering a positive school climate. Recognizing warning signs, having resources to address students’ mental health and emotional needs, and ensuring that racial profiling does not take place in the process are crucial to preventing gun violence in education settings. To achieve these goals, adequate funding and sufficient staffing must be available. Recognizing the warning signs is only a part of the solution; reducing access to guns is also critical.

This section also includes recommendations for the broader community. Anonymous reporting systems have demonstrated effectiveness, providing students and other community members with a trusted avenue to raise concerns related to student wellness and safety. These systems also serve as alerts for mental health professionals regarding interpersonal violence and suicide risks.

Considering that 4.6 million children under the age of 18 live in homes with guns, secure storage interventions play a critical role in overall school safety. 2 Miller, M., & Azrael, D. (2022, February 22). Firearm Storage in US Households with Children: Findings from the 2021 National Firearm Survey. JAMA Network Open, 5(2), e2148823. doi:doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.48823 Additionally, community-based intervention programs offer services to students off school grounds and while traveling to and from school.

The evidence indicates that arming educators does not enhance student safety. In fact, it compromises the safe and trusting environment necessary to thwart gun violence, introducing new liability risks and complicating law enforcement responses in the event of an active shooter incident. 3 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (2024). Stop Arming Teachers. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/solution/arming-teachers .  In contrast, commonsense gun laws are essential for saving lives. Effective measures include:

• Require background checks on all gun sales, an approach proven to reduce gun violence;
• Pass Extreme Risk/red flag laws to provide a way for family members and law enforcement to petition a court to remove firearms from a person at risk of causing harm without a criminal proceeding;
• Pass secure firearm storage laws to prevent unauthorized access by children by requiring gun owners to lock up their firearms, which has been shown to prevent unintentional shootings and firearm suicides; 
• Raise the age to purchase semi-automatic firearms to 21 to prevent potential younger shooters from easily obtaining such firearms; 
• Prohibit guns on college campuses where legally viable to do so ; and 
• Prohibit assault weapons and high-capacity magazines , which allow shooters to fire more rounds over a short period of time and inflict more gunshot wounds during an attack.    

Promoting the adoption of gun violence-related collective bargaining language and administrative policy, including the creation or enhancement of health and safety committees, is another effective way to combat gun violence. Bargaining language and administrative policy also offer important opportunities to enhance mental health supports and professional development on topics including trauma-informed crisis intervention and restorative practices. 

Prevention Checklists for State and Local Affiliates

These checklists can be downloaded and used to help guide state and local affiliates as they develop their own gun violence prevention and response plans.

According to the American Psychological Association, “A complex and variable constellation of risk and protective factors makes persons more or less likely to use a firearm against themselves or others. For this reason, there is no single profile that can reliably predict who will use a gun in a violent act. Instead, gun violence is associated with a confluence of individual, family, school, peer, community, and sociocultural risk factors that interact over time during childhood and adolescence.” 4 American Psychological Association. (2013). Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/gun-violence-prevention .

Given this complexity, taking meaningful actions to keep our students, educators, and surrounding communities safe must begin from an understanding of four key facts about gun violence in education settings.

Four Key Facts About Gun Violence in Education Settings

Shooters often have a connection to the pre-k–12 school or institution of higher education.

In the Everytown for Gun Safety’s Gunfire on School Grounds database, 60 percent of school-age shooters were current or former students of the Pre-K–12 school, including all shooters involved in mass shootings and nearly all in self-harm incidents (96 percent) and unintentional discharges of a gun (91 percent). 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2022). How to Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/ . For example, Everytown analyzed the New York City Police Department’s review of active shooter incidents in K–12 schools over the five-decade period from 1966 to 2016, finding that in 3 out of 4 of these incidents, the shooter or shooters were school-age and were current or former students. 2 New York City Police Department. (2016). Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/counterterrorism/active-shooter-analysis2016.pdf . Similarly, the Violence Prevention Project found 89 percent of shooters at colleges and universities had a connection to the institution. 3 Violence Prevention Project. (n.d.). Key Findings. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from Violence Prevention Project:  https://www.theviolenceproject.org/key-findings/ . These data suggest the need for comprehensive strategies that combine prevention, mental health support, and crisis response to effectively tackle school gun violence.

Guns Discharged in Pre-K–12 Schools Generally Come from the Home of a Parent or Close Relative

School-age shooters generally do not purchase the weapon or weapons used. In a study of targeted K–12 school violence from 2008 to 2017, the U.S. Secret Service noted that 3 out of 4 shooters acquired their firearm from the home of a parent or close relative. 1 National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf . This was the case, for example, with the Oxford High School shooting on November 30, 2021, in Michigan. 2 Albeck-Ripka, L., & Kasakove, S. (2021, December 19). What We Know About the Michigan High School Shooting. The New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.nytimes.com/article/oxford-school-shooting-michigan.html .

There Are Nearly Always Warning Signs

Warning signs of school shootings, if appropriately identified, can offer an opportunity for intervention beforehand. However—as discussed in more detail in the sections that follow on trauma-informed intervention practices and restorative disciplinary practices—identifying and intervening based on advanced indicators is essential but must be done without perpetuating adverse racial stereotypes, targeting those that demonstrate behavioral concerns, or compromising the trust and emotional safety of a school environment.

The U.S. Secret Service study of targeted school violence from 2008 to 2017 found that 100 percent of the perpetrators showed behaviors of concern and 77 percent of the time at least one person—most often a peer—knew about their plan. 1 National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf . In the higher education context, about 44 percent of people who perpetrated mass shootings had communicated their intent in advance. 2 Peterson, J., & et al. (2021). Community of Intent to Do Harm Preceding Mass Public Shootings in the United States, 1966-2019. JAMA Network Open, 4(11). doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33073.

These data suggest that fostering a trusting and emotionally safe climate where students are willing to ask adults for help and report any statements and behaviors of concern, such as gun threats on social media or weapons carrying, can be effective tools for prevention. Addressing warning signs and taking immediate action while also ensuring that racial profiling is never supported or permitted is essential.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012, in Connecticut, underscores the importance of intervening when possible to stop violence before it happens. The official investigation revealed that there were several instances of the shooter’s prior behavior that were concerning. For example, when the shooter was in seventh grade, a teacher reported that “his writing assignments obsessed about battles, destruction and war, far more than others his age. The level of violence in the writing was disturbing.” 3 Sedensky, S. J. (2013). Report of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Danbury on the Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and 36 Yogananda Street, Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/Official_Sandy_Hook_Report.pdf .

Gun Violence in U.S. Schools Disproportionately Affects Students of Color

In the shooting incidents where the Everytown Support Fund was able to identify the racial makeup of the student body, 2 out of 3 incidents occurred in majority-minority schools. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2022). How to Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/ . Although Black students represent approximately 15 percent of the total K–12 school population in the United States, 2 National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. (2020, September). State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary and Secondary Education, 1998-99 Through 2018-19; National Elementary and Secondary Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Project Model,1972 Through 2029, Common Core Data (CCD). Retrieved February 17, 2024, from National Center for Education Statistics: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d20/tables/dt20_203.60.asp?current=yes . they make up 30 percent of the average population at schools that have been affected by a fatal shooting. 3 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2022). How to Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/ . While perpetrators of mass shootings in schools have tended to be White, and mass shootings are often portrayed in media coverage as occurring predominantly in schools with a majority of White students, gunfire on school grounds disproportionately affects students of color. 

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Childhood Trauma, Grief, and Toxic Stress

Gun violence—in a community, a home environment, or an education setting—can be a factor that produces trauma and stress for children and adults. A 2021 analysis of mass shooting data showed that a majority of mass shooters experienced early childhood trauma and exposure to violence at a young age and had an identifiable grievance or crisis event. 5 Shahid, S., & Duzor, M. (2021, June 1). VOA Special Report: History of Mass Shooters. Voice of America News. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from  https://projects.voanews.com/mass-shootings/ . NEA’s website provides additional information on toxic stress and trauma . Therefore, it is important to understand the potential impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress when addressing an incident of gun violence. Educators can play a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of trauma through early detection and focused support. To achieve this goal, state legislatures must fully fund and staff schools so that educators have the time and attention to recognize early warning signs and take action to address students’ needs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 64 percent of adults in the United States reported having at least one type of adverse childhood experience (ACE) before the age of 18. The CDC also noted that ACE events are typically the result of violence, abuse, neglect, and environmental factors that expose children to substance use, mental health-related issues, and parental separation. 6 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Fast Facts: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:  https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/fastfact.html .

Trauma occurs when someone feels threatened by serious harm, whether it is physical, mental, or emotional. While not all ACEs lead to childhood trauma, people who suffer from one or more such adversities may experience a negative impact on their overall well-being, education, and career. Researchers have found that trauma can change the brain and the body’s makeup, which can lead to diseases like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and mental health disorders. 7 Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. (2014). Chapter 3. Understanding the Impact of Trauma. In Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services (Vols. Treatment Improvement Protocol, No. 57). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/ . Neuropsychologists have found that traumatic experiences can, in fact, alter a child’s brain, activating its “fight, flight, or freeze” responses and reducing the areas where learning, especially in regard to language, occurs. When this shift happens repeatedly, it fundamentally changes the brain, particularly for children under the age of 5, to adapt and survive under the worst conditions. 8 Flannery, Mary Ellen. (2016, May 17). How Trauma Is Changing Children’s Brains. NEA Today. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from NEA Today:  https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/how-trauma-changing-childrens-brains .

The ongoing presence of ACEs may also contribute to toxic stress. The American Academy of Pediatrics defines “toxic stress” as prolonged or significant adversity in the absence of mitigating social-emotional buffers, such as a supportive adult. This kind of persistent activation of the stress response systems can result in a wide array of biological changes that occur at the molecular, cellular, and behavioral levels; disrupt the development of brain architecture; and increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into adulthood. 9 Garner, A., & Yogman, M. (2021, August). Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress: Partnering with Families and Communities to Promote Relationship Health. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052582. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/148/2/e2021052582/179805/Preventing-Childhood-Toxic-Stress-Partnering-With?autologincheck=redirected .

Experiencing adversity, including trauma and toxic stress, can significantly shape an individual’s health and life outcomes. Childhood trauma can also negatively affect the mental health of and educational outcomes for higher education students. 10 Lecy, N., & Osteen, P. (2022). The Effects of Childhood Trauma on College Completion. 63, 1058-1072. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-022-09677-9 ; Assari, S., & Landarani, M. M. (2018). Violence Exposure and Mental Health of College Students in the United States. Behavioral Sciences, 8(6), 53. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8060053 .

Many other factors have been proven to cause toxic stress, including poverty, racism, bullying, community violence, and generational (historical) trauma. 11 Cronholm, P., & et al. (2015, September). Adverse Childhood Experiences Expanding the Concept of Adversity. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 49(3), 354-361. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.02.001 ; Garner, A., & Yogman, M. (2021, August). Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress: Partnering with Families and Communities to Promote Relationship Health. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052582. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/148/2/e2021052582/179805/Preventing-Childhood-Toxic-Stress-Partnering-With?autologincheck=redirected . According to researchers at the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University, ACEs-generated trauma includes community and systemic threats from inside or outside the home environment because the brain recognizes a present threat and goes on high alert. 12 Center on the Developing Child. (2020, October 30). ACEs and Toxic Stress: Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University:  https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/aces-and-toxic-stress-frequently-asked-questions/ .

Childhood bereavement can also have a significant impact on children’s health and well-being. “The death of someone close to a child has a profound and lifelong effect on the child and may result in a range of both and short and long-term reactions.” 13 Schonfeld, D. J., & Demaria, T. (2016). Supporting the Griefing Child and Family. Pediatrics. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from  https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2147 . Schools can learn more about the impact of bereavement and becoming grief-sensitive schools to better support student learning and development. Organizations, such as The Coalition to Support Grieving Students , provide resources to assist schools in becoming grief-sensitive. 

Debunking Myths and Misconceptions About Gun Violence

The only way to stop a “bad guy” with a gun is a “good guy” with a gun.

If more guns everywhere made us safer, the United States would be the safest country in the world. Instead, we have a gun homicide rate 26 times that of other high-income countries. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023). Gun Violence in America. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from https://everytownresearch.org/report/gun-violence-in-america/ .

Myth & Fact

I don’t own a gun, so I don’t need to worry about my kids getting ahold of one.

More than 60 percent of unintentional gun deaths among children involve a gun belonging to a family member of the shooter. 1 Wilson, R. F. (2023). Unintentional Firearm Injury Deaths Among Children and Adolescents Aged 0–17 Years — National Violent Death Reporting System, United States, 2003–2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 72(50), 1338-1345. In the United States, 4.6 million children under the age of 18 live in a household with at least one loaded, unsecured gun, 2 Miller, M., & Azrael, D. (2022, February 22). Firearm Storage in US Households with Children: Findings from the 2021 National Firearm Survey. JAMA Network Open, 5(2), e2148823. doi:doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.48823 but research also suggests that school shooters under the age of 18 predominantly obtain their guns from family, relatives, or friends. 3 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2022). How to Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/how-to-stop-shootings-and-gun-violence-in-schools/ . As a result, children may be able to get ahold of a gun even if no one in their household owns one.

Arming educators will keep our kids safer.

Research suggests that the presence of a gun may potentially increase the risks posed to children. Many school safety experts and law enforcement groups oppose arming teachers, as does the NEA. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024-d). Stop Arming Teachers. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/solution/arming-teachers . Law enforcement officers receive hundreds of hours of training in areas including firearm proficiency and active shooter response. Training requirements for educators are often a fraction of the training hours required by police officers.

Criminals will always find a way to get their hands on a gun.

Laws like background checks stop gun sales to people legally prohibited from buying guns. This includes people with felony convictions, domestic abuse restraining orders, and others. Since 1994, these laws have blocked more than 4 million gun sales to people who could not legally own guns. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024-h). Background Checks on All Gun Sales. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety:  https://www.everytown.org/solutions/background-checks/ ; Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2021-c). Undeniable: How Long-Standing Loopholes in the Background Check System Have Been Exacerbated by COVID-19. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/background-check-loopholes/ .

Prevention Strategies

Education settings at all levels must establish safe, supportive, nurturing environments where students can thrive. Strategies including trauma-informed crisis intervention programs and active engagement with students and their families are essential to gun violence prevention. In addition, community violence intervention programs that integrate mental health and emotional supports help address the systemic and underlying factors that can lead to gun violence.

Foster Safe and Supportive School Climates

When schools are adaptable to the needs of their students, educators, families, and community, they can provide students with care and compassion and create conditions that prevent shootings and other violence. For example, a community school that has high levels of violence inside or outside the school building may fund programs that create safe walking and transportation routes to and from school, often referred to as safe passage; grant alternatives to out-of-school suspensions that offer meaningful educational opportunities for students; provide family counseling; increase access to mentoring, both inside and outside of school; and incorporate restorative justice into disciplinary policies. NEA’s website includes additional information on community schools . 

Students are often the first to notice signs that a peer is in crisis, has brought a weapon to school, or has shared plans to commit a violent act; however, they are sometimes reluctant to share these observations—or their own personal struggles and needs—with adults they do not trust. Students may be reluctant to relay information that might help avert a gun violence incident because of fear of getting in trouble, being labeled a “tattletale,” or not being believed or taken seriously. A pre-established relationship of trust with at least one educator increases students’ willingness to report potential incidents or identify bullying or violence they experience or witness. 14 Volungis, A. M., & Goodman, K. (2017). School Violence Prevention: Teachers Establishing Relationships with Students Using Counseling Strategies. Sage Open, 7(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017700460 .

Many education support professionals (ESPs) live in the same community as their students and are often trusted confidants; they play a key role in the preventative and intervention actions. ESPs—including, but not limited to, custodial and maintenance, food service, clerical, security, and transportation professionals—are often the first to confront a shooter. Indeed, almost half of NEA ESP members—48 percent—spend a great deal of their time promoting school safety. The job responsibilities of another 28 percent are somewhat related to promoting such work.

To build trust, educators must have cultural competency to counteract unconscious bias and reduce the risk of biased decision-making that can impede a student’s ability to trust them. 

An all-staff activity called Know Me, Know My Name is an example of an effective way to identify students who may need support but go unseen. 15 Illinois Education Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from Know Me, Know My Name:  https://ieanea.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Know-me-know-my-name-plan-1.pdf . Low-cost and relatively simple, the activity helps educators identify children who may need adult intervention via outreach and relationship-building, encompassing the ideals of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships (SSNR). SSNRs help interrupt cycles of violence and reduce the impact of students’ exposure to abuse and neglect. The Harvard School of Education also developed relationship mapping , which is another example of this type of activity. 16 Harvard Graduate School of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from Relationship Mapping Strategy:  https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/resources-for-educators/relationship-mapping-strategy .

The Importance of Connections in Higher Education

Compelling evidence indicates that students at institutions of higher education who felt connected to individual staff and/or faculty experienced multiple positive outcomes, including those related to emotional well-being. Students are also less likely to experience substance and alcohol use and have better health outcomes. Connectedness is especially crucial for first-year students; perceived decreases (from high school) in social connectedness can lead to heightened feelings of loneliness and anxiety. These positive connections had little to do with an educator’s teaching style or pedagogy but with their ability to care about their students as people. 1 Morgan, E., & et al. (2014). The School Discipline Consensus Report: Strategies from the Field to Keep Students Engaged in School and Out of the Juvenile Justice System. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from  https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/school-discipline-consensus-report-strategies-field-keep-students-engaged .

Implement Trauma-Informed and Grief-Sensitive Crisis Intervention and Restorative Disciplinary Practices

Students who commit acts of gun-related violence in schools almost always have shown warning signs that concerned other people around them. 17 National Threat Assessment Center. (2019). p. 58, Protecting America’s Schools: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from  https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf . Therefore, identifying students who may need support to prevent a crisis from becoming violent while ensuring that racial profiling and other biased actions are neither supported nor permitted is key to preventing gun violence in schools.

To respond to signs of distress in a manner that serves students and protects the community, schools can convene a multidisciplinary team that uses trauma-informed and grief-sensitive crisis intervention practices in collaboration with other community partners. A School Improvement Team, Resilience Team, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Team, or other such entities that may already exist could potentially serve this function. Whatever its name, such a team would receive information about a student who may be in crisis, evaluate the situation, design interventions to prevent violence, and provide appropriate in-school engagement, support, and resources. Every team that addresses crisis intervention should include ESPs; however, ESP membership must be voluntary. Every school community is different, so team structures and functions must be designed and implemented based on the unique needs of the student body and the broader school community.

Behavioral threat assessments are frequently used to identify students who are at risk of committing violence and get them the help they need. These programs generally consist of multidisciplinary teams that are specifically trained to intervene at the earliest warning signs of potential violence and divert those who would do harm to themselves or others to appropriate treatment. NEA opposes “behavioral threat assessment programs and approaches that disproportionately target Native students and students of color.” 18 NEA. (2023). Legislative Program. Reference I.E.41. Retrieved from  https://www.nea.org/about-nea/governance-policies/nea-legislative-program . The Association urges all school community members to be prepared to ensure that if they use behavioral threat assessments, they achieve their desired outcomes without adverse racial impact. If such assessments are in use, they must be properly resourced, including with release time for the counselors, nurses, or other educators who serve on a team conducting behavioral threat assessments.

NEA does not believe that the criminalization and over-policing of students is the right approach to addressing gun violence in education settings. Research shows that exclusionary discipline programs, including zero-tolerance policies, disproportionately impact students of color and contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, including through their subjective application toward students of color. 19 Ford, S. (2021). Learning While Black: How “Zero Tolerance” Policies Disproportionately Affect Black Students. University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy, 32(1), 49-70. Retrieved February 22, 2024. Zero-tolerance policies and harsh disciplinary practices result in negative academic outcomes for students given that school suspensions are a stronger predictor of dropping out of school than grade-point average and socioeconomic status. 20 Suh, S., & Suh, J. (2007). Risk Factors and Levels of Risk for High School Dropouts. Professional School Counseling, 10(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X0701000312 . Furthermore, a longitudinal study done with children ages 9 and 10 found that “enforcing these kinds of disciplinary actions can impair typical childhood development, leading to academic failure, student dropout, and emotional and psychological distress, disproportionately affecting Black children, multiracial Black children, and children from single-parent homes. 21 Fadus, M., & et al. (2021, August). Racial Disparities in Elementary School Disciplinary Actions: Findings from the ABCD Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology, 60(8), 998-1009. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2020.11.017 .  

By contrast, NEA emphasizes the use of behavioral practices centered in restorative justice and the elimination of inequitable policies, practices, and systems that disproportionately harm Native People and People of Color—including those who are LGBTQ+, have disabilities, and/or are multilingual learners—and deprive many students of future opportunities. Trauma-informed prevention strategies should include restorative-based practices.

Investing in Restorative Practices

Restorative practices are based on values that holistically prevent and repair harm, build community and relationships, and result in a positive, supportive school climate. Schools that increased the use of restorative practices saw a decrease in schoolwide misbehavior, substance use, and student mental health challenges as well as improved school climate and student achievement. A key recommendation from the Learning Policy Institute is to invest in ongoing education and support for all educators to develop knowledge of and expand access to restorative practices among all students. 1 Darling-Hammond, S. (2023, May 24). Fostering belonging, transforming schools: The impact of restorative practices. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Learning Policy Institute:  https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/impact-restorative-practices-brief .

Engage School Communities in Gun Violence Prevention Efforts

School safety requires all stakeholders—students, families, educators, educators’ unions, mental health professionals, law enforcement professionals, organizations promoting racial and social justice, and community members—to collaborate and work together. 

Here are examples of how to engage students and families in gun violence prevention:

• Create a safety reporting program. These programs should ensure all students, families, educators, and community members are aware of the reporting system so that they have a trusted avenue to raise concerns when issues of student wellness or safety arise. In a four-year study of the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS) in a school district in the southeastern United States, more than half of firearm-related tips were deemed “life safety” events, requiring an immediate response from the school team and emergency services. The SS-ARS also identified tips related to interpersonal violence and suicide concerns, which both have implications for firearm violence. Research suggests that adolescent firearm injuries often stem from interpersonal violence, and firearm use significantly escalates the risk for self-inflicted injury and suicide completion. It is imperative that awareness of such reporting systems is amplified to increase use by the community, particularly students; however, it likely requires additional investment in supports and services for adolescents to help mitigate the burden on those who respond to these tips. 22 Thulin, E. J., & et al. (2024). Firearm-Related Tips in a Statewide School Anonymous Reporting System. Pediatrics, 153(2), e2023063861. doi: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2023-063861 . State initiatives—like Utah’s SafeUT crisis chat and tip line , which is used in almost all K–12 schools and some institutions of higher education in the state, by the Utah National Guard, and with first responders and their families—can also serve this function. 23 SafeUT. (n.d.). Retrieved from SafeUT:  https://safeut.org/ . In higher education contexts, there are greater restrictions on how schools can communicate with parents and families than in elementary, middle, and high schools.
• Help families start conversations with their school community. When families communicate openly, honestly, and directly with school officials, educators, and administrators, they can help prevent gun violence. Stand with Parkland developed the resource “ 5 Questions Every Family Should Ask as the School Year Begins ” to assist families in ensuring their children’s safety and better understand how prepared a school is to address safety issues. 24 Stand with Parkland. (n.d.). Retrieved from 5 Questions Every Family Should Ask as the School Year Begins:  https://standwithparkland.org/5-questions/ .  
• Use strategies that encourage effective communication on difficult topics. The NEA Health and Safety Program partnered with the Right Question Institute and the Brown School of Public Health to provide a training module to help support families, educators, and students effectively communicate around health and safety issues. The Association also produced a training module— Pathways for Effective School-Family Partnerships: A Strategy for Productive School Health and Safety Dialogue . This training is based on the Right Question Institute’s Question Formulation Technique (QFT), a structured method for generating and improving questions that can be used by individuals or groups. 

Promote Secure Storage Practices to Keep School Communities Safe

Evidence strongly suggests that secure firearm storage—storing guns unloaded, locked, and separated from the ammunition—is essential to any effective strategy to keep students, educators, schools, and communities safe. 25 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 26). Preventable Tragedies: Unintentional Shootings by Children. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/report/notanaccident/ . One study showed that the majority of children are aware of where their parents store their guns. More than one-third of those children reported handling their parents’ guns, many doing so without the knowledge of their parents. 26 Baxley, F., & Miller, M. (2006). Parental Misperceptions About Children and Firearms. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 160(5), 542-547. doi:doi:10.1001/archpedi.160.5.542.

Secure storage not only decreases the likelihood of gun violence on school grounds, but it also reduces firearm suicide rates. A recent study of two decades of suicide prevention laws showed that the rate of gun suicide among young people ages 10 to 24 years old was lower in 2022 than in 1999 in states with the most protective secure gun storage laws, which hold gun owners accountable for failing to store their firearms securely. In states with no secure storage laws or only reckless access storage laws, the gun suicide rate among young people ages 10 to 24 years old increased by 36 percent from 1999 to 2022. 27 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023-h). Two Decades of Suicide Prevention Laws: Lessons from National Leaders in Gun Safety Policy. Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. Retrieved from  https://everytownresearch.org/two-decades-of-suicide-prevention-laws-lessons-from-national-leaders-in-gun-safety-policy/ .

In states where colleges and universities are required to allow firearms on campus, schools should encourage students to securely store their firearms.

The Value of Trauma-Informed Practices

Researchers have defined trauma-informed practices (TIP) as a set of approaches that address the impact of trauma by creating a safe and caring environment. TIP includes restorative practices and a focus on creating a safe school culture, building relationships, and supporting students’ self-efficacy. When effectively implemented, these practices can reduce instances of bullying and aggression, improve achievement, increase self-esteem for students, improve connections between students and educators as well as among students, and strengthen social and emotional skills. By doing so, schools can create school climates where gun violence is less likely. 1 Lodi, E., & et al. (2021, December 23). Use of Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices at School: A Systematic Literature Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1), 96. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010096 .

The entire school community must receive training to successfully implement a restorative practices discipline model. Ineffective training and partial implementation can contribute to frustration and skepticism about such initiatives.

NEA’s guidance on trauma-informed practices provides a list of common actions that educators can take to implement across education settings, which include the following:

• Support students from the bus stop to the classroom (and beyond!);
• Be aware of what may upset a student;
• Show compassion, not judgment;
• Give students a safe space to share and express their feelings;
• Help students develop a growth mindset;
• Use restorative practices that minimize punitive discipline outcomes;
• Build relationships;
• Meet students where they are;
• Don’t ignore possible “warning signs”;
• Take care of yourself; and
• Encourage all educators to be trained on trauma-informed practices.

Educators can encourage a culture of secure gun storage by increasing awareness of secure storage practices . One example of an effective awareness campaign is the Everytown Support Fund’s Be SMART program, which focuses on fostering conversations with other adults about secure gun storage. Although educators may be familiar with the SMART acronym for goal-setting purposes, in this context, the acronym stands for:

• S ecure guns in homes and vehicles,
• M odel responsible behavior,
• A sk about unsecured guns in homes,
• R ecognize the role of guns in suicide, and
• T ell your peers to be SMART .

The program’s purpose is to facilitate behavior change for adults and help parents and adults prevent child gun deaths and injuries. 28 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 26). Preventable Tragedies: Unintentional Shootings by Children. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/report/notanaccident/ .  

Schools can partner with Be SMART and pass resolutions requiring that all student households receive Be SMART information, which is already happening in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Denver, among other locations. 29 Sawchuk, S. (2021, December 8). More Schools Are Reminding Parents to Secure Their Guns. Education Week. Retrieved from  https://www.edweek.org/leadership/more-schools-are-reminding-parents-to-secure-their-guns/2021/12 . School districts across the country have taken this vital action, impacting more than 10 million students, 30 Everytown for Gun Safety. (2023, August 25). Press Release: As Kids Head Back to School Nationwide, What to Know about Keeping Communities Safe From Gun Violence This Upcoming School Year. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety:  https://www.everytown.org/press/as-kids-head-back-to-school-nationwide-what-to-know-about-keeping-communities-safe-from-gun-violence-this-upcoming-school-year/ . and some institutions of higher education have partnered with the program. Be SMART’s Secure Storage Toolkit provides all the information and resources you need to encourage your school to pass a secure storage resolution. 

Governors, federal and state departments of health and education, legislatures, nonprofit organizations, and local officials can also work together to develop and fund programs that increase awareness of the need to store firearms securely. 31 For example, see the City Gun Violence Reduction Insight Portal (CityGRIP), available at https://citygrip.org/ .   

Increase Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Support

Firearms are the leading cause of death among youth in the United States, and firearm suicides account for more than 4 out of 10 of these deaths. The rate of firearm suicide among young people ages 10 to 24 years old increased by 30 percent from 1999 to 2022. 32 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023-h). Two Decades of Suicide Prevention Laws: Lessons from National Leaders in Gun Safety Policy. Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. Retrieved from https://everytownresearch.org/two-decades-of-suicide-prevention-laws-lessons-from-national-leaders-in-gun-safety-policy/ Experts are sounding the alarm about young people’s mental health. A recent survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, overall, 42 percent of teens experienced a persistent feeling of sadness or hopelessness, while 57 percent of female and 29 percent of male respondents felt that way. The same survey found that, overall, 22 percent of teens seriously considered attempting suicide, while 30 percent of female respondents and 14 percent of male respondents did. 33 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). p. 63, Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Data Summary and Trends Report, 2011-2021. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from  https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf . For many reasons—including the prevalence of guns in our society—the elevated risk for youth gun suicide crisis continues to rise. Furthermore, a large proportion of perpetrators of mass shootings expressed suicidal intentions, suggesting suicide prevention through crisis intervention could be a meaningful mitigating factor for mass shooting incidents. 34 Violence Prevention Project. (2021, November 17). Suicidality of Perpetrators. Retrieved from Violence Prevention Project; Remnick, D. (2022, May 31). What Makes a Mass Shooter? The New Yorker. Retrieved from  https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/politics-and-more/what-makes-a-mass-shooter .

School-employed health professionals, who navigate the education system and the challenges of emotional and social development, serve as a critical resource for students. These professionals may be among the first to know when students are experiencing difficulties or when they are at risk of turning to violence. Unfortunately, the current national shortage of specialized school-based counselors, psychologists, sociologists, and nurses means that meeting the needs of students can be a challenge, and this challenge is often exacerbated in under-resourced communities. NEA determined in the report “ Elevating the Education Professions: Solving Educator Shortages by Making Public Education an Attractive and Competitive Career Path ” that solving educator shortages requires evidence-based, long-term strategies to address both recruitment and retention. The report noted that mental health positions were among the most understaffed in schools. 35 NEA. (2022, 10). Elevating the Education Professions: Solving Educator Shortages by Making Public Education an Attractive and Competitive Career Path. Retrieved 02 23, 2024, from  https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/29302-solving-educator-shortage-report-final-oct-11-2022.pdf .

School-based health services, including behavioral health, provide crucial support to students. School-based Medicaid services, for example, play an essential role in the health of children and adolescents, including those related to behavioral health. With more than 41 million kids covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the school setting offers a unique opportunity to meet children where they are. 36 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2023, May 18). Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Help Schools Deliver Critical Health Care Services to Millions of Students. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:  https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/18/biden-harris-administration-takes-action-help-schools-deliver-critical-health-care-services-millions-students.html#:~:text=Medicaid%20and%20CHIP%20cover%20more%20than%20half%20of,weekly%20in%20school%20during%20mo . Schools, early childhood settings, and local education agencies help support children and their families, providing children and youth with access to important healthcare services on-site. For information on how to utilize the historic investment into school-based services by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, see NEA’s Your Guide to the BSCA . NEA’s website also includes guidance on bargaining and advocacy tactics to support educators’ mental health .

School-based health centers (SBHCs) can also help make quality primary care more accessible for children and adolescents. 37 Kjolhede, C., & et al. (2021, October 1). School-Based Health Centers and Pediatric Practice. Pediatrics, 148(4), e2021053758. doi: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-053758 . “School-based health care advances health equity for children and adolescents who experience barriers to accessing care because of systemic inequities, their family income, or where they live,” according to the School-Based Health Alliance. “School-based health centers, the most comprehensive type of school-based health care, do this by providing primary, behavioral, oral, and vision care where youth spend most of their time—at school.” 38 School-Based Health Alliance. (2024). What Is School-Based Health Care? Retrieved from  https://www.sbh4all.org/what-we-do/ . These organizations can collaborate with schools to support student well-being by contributing clinical expertise to supplement existing services at the school. 39 National Council for Mental Wellbeing. (2023). Partnering with Schools to Improve Youth Mental Health: A Resource for Community Mental Health and Substance Use Care Organizations. Retrieved from  https://sbh4all.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/ParterningwithSchoolstoImproveYouthMentalHealth_2023-final.pdf .

The trauma that comes from the threat of gun violence is deeply affecting the mental health and well-being of not only students but also educators. The needs of educators are too often overlooked when resources are being offered in schools to address trauma from gun violence. There must be an increase in support and mental health resources for educators to sustain the workforce as they continue to face the threat of gun violence in schools. 

Through NEA Member Benefits, NEA members receive access to the NEA Mental Health Program , powered by AbleTo, which provides 24/7 access to “evidence-backed tools for stress, anxiety, depression, or whatever you’re going through.”

The federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Disaster Distress Helpline offers free, 24/7 crisis counseling for people experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster, including shootings. Dial or text 1-800-985-5990 to connect with counselors in more than 100 languages via third-party interpretation services. 

Programs that help educators recognize the warning signs of mental health issues include Emotional CPR and Mental Health First Aid .

Help is also available for individuals who are struggling or in crisis by calling or texting 988 or chatting at 988lifeline.org . State initiatives, like SafeUT described earlier in this section, on anonymous reporting for school safety can also provide mental health support for Pre-K–12 and higher education students. 

Integrate Community Violence Intervention Programs Into Schools

Community violence occurring in and around schools significantly affects students and educators. An assessment of the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey 40 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Data Summary and Trends Report, 2011-2021. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from  https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf . showed that witnessing community violence was linked to elevated odds of gun carrying, substance use, and suicide risk among Black, Hispanic, and White students, regardless of gender. 41 Harper, C., & et al. (2023, April 28). Witnessing Community Violence, Gun Carrying, and Associations with Substance Use and Suicide Risk Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Supplements, 72(1), 22-28. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7201a3 .  

In neighborhoods that experience community violence, schools can support Community Violence Intervention (CVI) strategies to mitigate its impact on youth. 42 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024). Community-Led Public Safety Strategies. Retrieved 3 12, 2024, from  https://everytownresearch.org/report/community-led-public-safety-strategies/ . Examples of these programs include the following:

• Safe passage programs provide safe routes to and from schools to reduce student exposure to gun violence. To achieve this goal, educators, law enforcement groups, and communities collaboratively implement protocols and procedures to ensure student safety. 43 Everytown For Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, May 24). The Impact of Gun Violence on Children and Teens. Retrieved May 24, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-impact-of-gun-violence-on-children-and-teens/ . A longitudinal study analyzing data from 2005–2016 found that following the program’s implementation, incidents of crime along these routes dropped an average of 28 percent for simple assault and battery; there was a 32 percent reduction in aggravated assault and battery. Furthermore, overall weekday criminal incidents on school grounds decreased by an average of 39 percent per year where safe passage programs were implemented. 44 Sanfelice, V. (2019, August). Are safe routes effective? Assessing the effects of Chicago’s Safe Passage program on local crimes. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 164, 357-373. Retrieved from  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268119302033?via%3Dihub .
• School-based violence prevention programs provide students and educators with information about violence, change how youth think and feel about violence, and enhance interpersonal and emotional skills. Chicago’s Becoming a Man (BAM) program —one example of a school-based violence prevention program—has reduced juvenile justice system readmission by 80 percent. 45 Heller et al., S. B. (2016, August). Thinking, Fast and Slow? Some Field Experiments to Reduce Crime and Dropout in Chicago. Retrieved from National Bureau of Economic Research:  https://www.nber.org/papers/w21178 .
• Youth engagement and employment programs support students outside of schools. 46 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 12). Summer Youth Employment Programs for Violence Prevention: A Guide to Implementation and Costing. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety and Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/report/summer-youth-employment-programs/ . These programs often center on healing or personal development. For example, The TraRon Center helps youth gun violence survivors in Washington, D.C., heal through after-school art therapy. Programs focusing on youth employment also show success. For example, a researcher found that participation in Boston’s Summer Youth Engagement Program led to a decrease in participants’ violent crime arraignments by 35 percent in the 17 months after program completion. 47 Modestino, A. S. (2019, Summer). How Do Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes, and for Whom? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 38(3), 600-628. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22138 .  
• Crime prevention through environmental design involves deliberate efforts to change the built environment of neighborhoods, buildings, and grounds to reduce crime and increase community safety. 48 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2021). Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Retrieved from  https://everytownsupportfund.org/report/crime-prevention-through-environmental-design/ ; CityGRIP. (n.d.). Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Retrieved January 9, 2024, from CityGRIP: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. https://citygrip.org/  . Programs encompass a wide variety of approaches and efforts to rehabilitate areas and discourage violence through visible signs that a community is cared for and watched over. Because gun violence is so costly and these simple fixes are not, communities save hundreds of dollars for every dollar that is invested. 49 Branas, Charles C., et al.. (2016, December). Urban Blight Remediation as a Cost-Beneficial Solution to Firearm Violence. American Journal of Public Health, 106(12), 2158-2164. doi: https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2016.303434 .  

Together, these programs offer services to students going to and from school and students on and off school and building grounds.

Do Not Arm Teachers or Other Educators

Arming teachers and other educators does not make schools safer; to the contrary, it escalates the risk of shootings and introduces new liability risks. 50 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024-d). Stop Arming Teachers. Retrieved March 14, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/solution/arming-teachers . As noted earlier in this guide, many educators, parents, and school safety experts, including several law enforcement groups, are opposed to arming teachers. 

Research strongly indicates that children will access guns when guns are present, including on school grounds. There have been numerous incidents of misplaced guns in schools that were left in bathrooms, 51 Metrick, B. (2016, September 13). Ex-teacher charged for leaving gun in school bathroom, police say. USA Today. Retrieved from  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/09/13/ex-teacher-charged-leaving-gun-school-bathroom-police-say/90314614/ in locker rooms, 52 Associated Press. (2018, April 3). No charges after Isabella Co. sheriff accidentally leaves gun at school. Detroit Free Press . Retrieved from https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/04/03/isabella-county-sheriff-gun-school/481486002/ and at sporting events. 53 Laine, C. (2019, January 24). Woman finds gun in bleachers at basketball tournament. WNEM . https://web.archive.org/web/20190710221102/https://www.wnem.com/news/woman-finds-gun-in-bleachers-at-basketball-tournament/article_193ee078-1ff4-11e9-841f-8f08f82a75ca.html .

For more on school resource officers and policing in school, see this guide’s section on school policing. Everytown’s Students Demand Action website includes additional information on strategies to oppose arming teachers .

Advocacy-Based Prevention Strategies

Advocate for measures that limit access to guns.

Gun safety policies save lives. The Everytown Support Fund’s Gun Law Rankings , which compare the gun violence prevention policies of all 50 states, show a strong correlation between a state’s gun laws and its rate of gun deaths. States with strong gun safety regulations, such as the policies outlined below, have lower rates of gun violence. States with weaker gun laws, such as no-permit carry and Shoot First laws (also known as Stand Your Ground laws), have higher rates of gun violence. 54 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Gun Safety Policies Save Lives. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund:  https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/ . The following gun violence prevention policies save lives and reduce the toll of gun violence on communities:

Requiring background checks on all gun sales

Background checks are proven to reduce gun violence. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia already require a background check on all handgun sales. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Which states require background checks and/or permits to purchase handguns? Retrieved January 9, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/background-check-and-or-purchase-permit/ . An Everytown Support Fund investigation showed that as many as 1-in-9 people looking to buy a firearm on this country’s largest online gun marketplace cannot legally purchase firearms—including those under the age of 18. 2 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2021, February 1). Unchecked: An Investigation of the Online Firearm Marketplace. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/report/unchecked-an-investigation-of-the-online-firearm-marketplace/ . As part of a comprehensive plan to prevent gun violence in education settings, states and the federal government must pass laws that require background checks on all gun sales so that adolescents and people prohibited from possessing firearms cannot easily purchase them from unlicensed sellers.

Enacting Extreme Risk/Red Flag Laws

Prior to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, nearly 30 people knew about the shooter’s previous violent behavior, and law enforcement groups had been called to incidents involving the shooter on dozens of occasions. 1 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. (2019). p. 264, Initial Report Submitted to the Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate President. Retrieved from https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MSDHS/CommissionReport.pdf . This is just one of many examples where a school shooter displayed warning signs of potential violence. States must enact Extreme Risk laws to create a legal process by which law enforcement, family members, and possibly educators can petition a court to temporarily prevent an individual from accessing firearms when there is evidence that they are at serious risk of harming themselves or others. These Extreme Risk protection orders, sometimes also called red flag orders or gun violence restraining orders, provide a way for concerned bystanders to intervene without a criminal proceeding against a potentially dangerous individual. Extreme Risk protection orders include robust due process protections. The court issues final orders after a hearing.

Enacting Secure Firearm Storage

Studies show that secure firearm storage laws save lives, particularly by preventing unintentional shootings and firearm suicides. For example, one study found that households that locked both firearms and ammunition had a 78 percent lower risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries and an 85 percent lower risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children and teenagers, compared to those households that left firearms and/or ammunition unlocked. 1 Grossman, D., & et al. (2005). Gun Storage Practices and Risk of Youth Suicide and Unintentional Firearm Injuries. JAMA, 293(6), 707-714. doi: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.293.6.707 . To protect kids in and out of schools, states must enact and enforce secure firearm storage laws. More than half of states and the District of Columbia currently have some form of secure storage law. 2 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Which states have child-access and/or secure storage laws? Retrieved January 9, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/secure-storage-or-child-access-prevention-required/ . In addition, several cities, including New York City and San Francisco, have passed secure storage laws. 

Raising the Age to Purchase Semi-Automatic Firearms

Under federal law, a person must be 21 years old to purchase a handgun from a licensed gun dealer. 1 18 U.S.C.§ 922(b)(1). However, a person only needs to be 18 years old to purchase that same handgun through an unlicensed sale (such as unlicensed sellers offering guns for sale online or at gun shows) or purchase a rifle or shotgun from a licensed dealer. 2 18 U.S.C.§ 922(b)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 922(x)(2). Research shows that 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 and over. 3 Everytown Research analysis using FBI Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) and U.S. Census American Community Survey data 2016–2020. Despite evidence that most perpetrators of school shootings are school-age and have a connection to the school, many states have failed to step in to close these gaps that easily allow firearm access for 18- to 20-year olds. 4 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Has the state raised the minimum age for purchasing firearms? Retrieved January 9, 2024, from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/minimum-age-to-purchase/ ; Only six states and DC require a person to be 21 to possess a handgun: DC, DE (beginning in July 2025), IL, MA, MD, NJ, and NY. Only IL and DC require a person to be 21 to possess a rifle or shotgun, and eight states require a person to be 21 to purchase a rifle or shotgun: CA, CO, DE, DC, FL, HI, IL, VT, and WA. At a minimum, states and the federal government must raise the minimum age to 21 years old to purchase or possess handguns and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns to prevent younger shooters from easily obtaining firearms.

Keeping Guns Off College Campuses

The vast majority of colleges and universities prohibit guns from being carried on campus , either by state law or school policy. Institutions of higher education have unique risk factors, such as high rates of student mental health challenges and increased use of alcohol and drugs, which make the presence of guns potentially deadly. By contrast, some states require colleges and universities to permit guns to be carried on campus under some circumstances. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2024, January 4). Which states don’t force colleges and universities to allow concealed guns on campus? Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/law/no-guns-mandate-on-college-campuses/ .  

Supporting the enactment by federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments of statutes, rules, and regulations that would prohibit people other than law enforcement agents from possessing firearms on the property of institutions of higher education, the American Bar Association (ABA) noted evidence suggesting that “permissive concealed gun carrying generally will increase crime and place students at risk.” Despite state laws allowing firearms in institutions of higher education, those institutions may still have independent authority to prohibit guns. 2 American Bar Association. (2023). Report on Resolution 603. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from  https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/directories/policy/midyear-2023/603-midyear-2023.pdf ; The American Bar Association (ABA)—citing recent authority holding that new bans on guns on campus should be permitted—highlighted that “a unanimous Montana Supreme Court ruled that state legislators infringed on authority granted to higher education officials by the state constitution by passing a law that permitted open and concealed firearm carrying on university and college campuses. The court declared that ‘maintaining a safe and secure education environment’ fell within the Board of Regents’ purview (and implicitly, that the Board could determine it was necessary to maintain that environment by prohibiting firearms on campus), and recognized that ‘Montana is not immune from the catastrophic loss that follows the use of firearms on school campuses.’” The ABA also called for “states that do not make it unlawful for any person, other than law enforcement, to possess firearms on property owned, operated, or controlled by any public institute of higher education, authorize such institutions of higher education to restrict or regulate the concealed or open carry of firearms on their campuses.”

Prohibiting Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines

Assault weapons are generally high-powered semi-automatic rifles specifically designed to allow shooters to wound and kill many people quickly. When combined with high-capacity magazines —commonly defined as magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition—a shooter is able to fire more rounds over a short period without pausing to reload. The more rounds a shooter can fire consecutively, the more gunshot wounds they can inflict during an attack. From 2015 to 2022, incidents where individuals used an assault weapon to kill four or more people resulted in 23 times as many people wounded on average compared to those who did not use an assault weapon. 1 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 24). Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/report/assault-weapons-and-high-capacity-magazines/ . Numerous mass shooters in schools, including those responsible for two of the deadliest shootings since 2016, have used assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. 2 Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. (2023, May 24). Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines. Retrieved from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund: https://everytownresearch.org/report/assault-weapons-and-high-capacity-magazines/ . NEA and Everytown recommend that states prohibit the possession and sale of assault weapons and magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

For more on strategies to advocate for measures that limit access to guns, see NEA’s Legislative Program and Everytown’s Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action .

Promote Strong Bargaining Language and Administrative Policies

NEA provides guidance on how to secure language regarding aspects of working conditions surrounding gun violence in administrative policies, employee handbooks, and collective bargaining agreements. This bargaining support includes language on:

• Prohibition against arming educators;
• Violence/abuse and threats against educators;
• Support after an assault;
• Broad health and safety provisions for overall safe work environments; and
• Joint health and safety committees.

Promoting Strong Union-Backed Language on School Safety

The San Diego Education Association bargained language on school safety plans that ensures the association is involved in the process of keeping schools safe. The language includes “rules and procedures to be followed by site personnel for their protection, including a method of emergency communication and rules and regulations governing the entering and leaving of school sites.” The language requires that school safety plans explicitly address weapons. 1 Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District and the San Diego Education Association. (2022). Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Board of Education, San Diego Unified School District and the San Diego Education Association. Section 11.6.2. Retrieved from  https://www.sandiegounified.org/common/pages/DownloadFileByUrl.aspx?key=mIE9NGWW%2b2qmICXsIXIbpHKGrnZf0UAyqh1mqCx7ErAKKj9%2bqmreFSNN4sI84nlgB%2bjcNeICiXuRO6MqgCQkFbLzvlekl8W3c4Po2uQJ7yfkaO7J2tI3DJsoBK%2bz9sx7dCRo9RB8KOEMuabW%2bND0mptkTnI4CKbKnq5Djz9WLHC3S .

In another example, Racine Educators United (REU), in Wisconsin, has aggressively organized around safety concerns in the district, leading, in part, to the creation of the School Safety Committee, an advisory group including five representatives selected by REU and five chosen by the Racine Unified School District (RUSD). Together, REU and RUSD will select parent, student, and community representatives to serve on the committee. The district superintendent also appoints a building services representative. The committee was a settlement of REU grievances and an REU lawsuit against the district.

According to the agreement between REU and RUSD , the School Safety Committee’s review of district policies and procedures will be informed by trauma-sensitive and restorative justice practices and will cover topics including weapons policies, responding to weapons, and gun violence and active shooter response. 2 Racine Unified School District and Racine Educators United. (2024). Settlement Agreement. Retrieved from  https://weac.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/FINAL-CLEAN-Workplace-Safety-Grievances-Settlement-Agreement_.pdf .

Build Strong Partnerships

Addressing gun violence in education settings requires strong, meaningful relationships with partners to deepen association understanding, build relationships, strengthen the processes and policies of Pre-K–12 schools and institutions of higher education, and ensure that approaches developed to keep students, educators, and communities safe are culturally and racially appropriate.

From state to state and within states, potential partners may vary. An important place to start is with other unions representing workers in the Pre-K–12 schools and institutions of higher education where association members work, gun violence-focused organizations, racial and social justice organizations, after-school programs, mental and physical health providers and organizations, associations representing principals or other administrators, and local colleges and universities with programs that identify or address violence in communities or, more specifically, in education settings. 

The following list includes several national-level organizations—with links to their websites—that may have state or local counterparts. Identifying local groups working on similar topics may also serve the same purpose.

Click to expand this list of national-level organizations

• AAPI Victory Alliance
• AASA—The School Superintendents Association
• Alliance to Reclaim our Schools
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Psychological Association
• American School Counselor Association
• Color of Change
• Community Justice Action Fund
• Hope and Heal Fund
• League of United Latin American Citizens
• March for Our Lives
• National Association of Elementary School Principals
• National Association of School Nurses
• National Association of School Psychologists
• National Association of Secondary School Principals
• National Association of Social Workers
• National PTA
• National School Boards Association
• Parents Together
• Sandy Hook Promise
• The Trevor Project

Engage State Occupational Safety and Health Agencies

State and local associations in any of the 29 states that have created state occupational safety and health agencies can look to the state agency for advocacy and organizing opportunities related to gun violence in Pre-K-12 public schools and public institutions of higher education. 55 The federal government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) serves to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for the private sector. Federal OSHA does not have jurisdiction over state and local public sector workers. Where established, state agencies are required by federal law to be at least as effective as OSHA in protecting workers and in preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths.  

In states with a safety and health agency covering public employees but without a workplace violence standard, the association or an individual member can file a complaint if workplace conditions are unsafe. Workplace violence standards allow for the association and members to be involved in the development and review of worksite violence plans. The state of New York has established a workplace violence prevention standard applicable to public schools, 56 New York State. (2024). Retrieved from Workplace Violence Prevention Information:  https://dol.ny.gov/workplace-safety . and California is developing one. 

Promote Professional Development, Capacity-Building, and Staffing

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education have awarded $1.5 billion in short-term grants for school safety, improved access to mental health services, and support for young people to address trauma and grief from gun violence. The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded an additional $60 million in short-term grants. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) commits to expanding the pipeline by designating $500 million for training to increase the pool of skilled professionals providing mental health services in schools. 

In early 2024, Vice President Harris announced an additional $285 million in funding for schools to hire and train mental health counselors. 57 Psychiatrist.com. (2024, January 15). “Vice President Harris Announces New Funding for Mental Health Professionals in Schools. Psychiatrist.com. Retrieved from  https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/vice-president-harris-announces-new-funding-for-mental-health-professionals-in-schools/ . Grants are not meant to be the long-term solution, but they can assist school districts with infrastructure needs and the ability to hire and train counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals. To identify funding opportunities for mental health support in education settings, see NEA’s webpage on school-based mental health services grants . In addition, explore whether state-mandated professional development for educators includes trainings on suicide prevention, trauma-informed crisis intervention, de-escalation techniques, restorative practices, and trauma-informed strategies.

Get Involved in Local Government

Educators play an essential role in the communities in which they work. The experience they’ve gained while working with students gives them a unique perspective when it comes to making public education policy, negotiating collective bargaining agreements, and setting budget priorities for their communities. 

Gun Violence Prevention Resources

National education association resources.

• National Education Association : The National Education Association is the nation’s largest union, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, specialized instructional support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become educators.
• NEA Health and Safety Program : NEA School Health and Safety provides information and solutions related to student and educator mental health, violence prevention and response, infection control, and environmental and occupational safety and health, among other topics.
• Bargaining and Advocacy Tactics to End Gun Violence : NEA provides advocates in bargaining and non-bargaining statute states with sample language to secure in board policies, employee handbooks, and collective bargaining agreements regarding aspects of working conditions surrounding gun violence.
• Gun Violence Prevention Measures Using the Hierarchy of Controls : To help address this worsening public health crisis, employers and educators can implement the hierarchy of controls —a proven approach to minimize or eliminate exposure to workplace hazards—to sensibly prevent gun violence in education contexts.
• NEA School Crisis Guide : Produced in 2018, the guide provides detailed content on how to effectively prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from school crises.
• Responding to Gun Violence : This portion of the NEA Health and Safety Program website provides content on taking action, helping students cope, resources for school leaders, fostering mental health, and preventing hate and bias, as well as resources for school leaders.  
• We Can Change This: Educators Take on Gun Violence : Educators across the country are working to end the era of school shootings that has defined students’ lives.
• NEA Legislative Program : The National Education Association’s Legislative Program encapsulates NEA’s priorities for advocating in Congress for federal laws that support public K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions, student learning, and educators

Mental Health Supports:

• Bargaining and Advocacy Tactics to Support Educators’ Mental Health : This resource compiles strategies to improve mental health support for educators using collective bargaining or advocacy.
• The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act : The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act unlocks more than $1 billion additional funding for mental health and other services.
• NEA Member Benefits Mental Health Program : Through NEA Member Benefits, in partnership with AbleTo, NEA members receive no-cost access to evidence-backed tools for stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health needs.
• School-Based Mental Health Services Grants : NEA provides a summary of federal grant programs that support efforts to increase school-based mental health services and programs.

Safe and Supportive Schools:

• Addressing the Epidemic of Trauma in Schools : This report builds a framework to advance trauma awareness and trauma-informed approaches, including some currently being implemented by NEA state affiliates. It includes key recommendations for ways in which NEA may address the trauma crisis through policy, programs, and practices. It also includes a list of selected resources developed or suggested as references by affiliates to address student and educator trauma.
• Cultural Competence Training : Through NEA’s Cultural Competence Training Program, NEA members learn how to become culturally competent educators.
• How Restorative Practices Work for Students and Educators : This NEA Today article explores what happens in public schools where educators care more about creating a community built upon kindness, not consequences.
• How to Be an Advocate for Students Who Are Bullied : These recommendations support educators in helping students who are bullied.
• How to Identify Bullying : This article provides tips for addressing bullying.
• NEA Micro-Credential Courses on Restorative Practices : Each of the five micro-credentials in this stack can stand alone or be completed sequentially: Exploring Restorative Practices; Building a Positive Classroom Community with Affective Language; Restorative Circles—Building Relationships in the Classroom; Restorative Conferencing; and Implementing Restorative Practices.
• NEA Micro-Credential Course on Trauma-Informed Pedagogy : This course addresses child trauma, how trauma affects the brain, trauma-informed pedagogy, leveled intervention strategies, behavioral support plans, replacement behaviors, and teaching students to self-advocate.
• Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships and Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools—A Guide for Educators : This guide helps educators better understand what restorative practices are and how they can foster safe learning environments through community building and constructive conflict resolution.
• Supporting the Advocacy, Communication, and Implementation of Life Skills in Public Schools: A Toolkit : Social-emotional learning (SEL)—also known as positive youth development or life skills—is widely supported by families, students, and educators and provides valuable skills and lessons that contribute to students’ success throughout their lives.
• Tools and Tips for Trauma-Informed Practices : Educators in every school community can use these practices to create safe and supportive learning environments for their students.
• Trauma-Informed Schools : Supporting students who suffer from childhood trauma requires whole-school involvement and transformation. The NEA and its affiliates are actively engaged in finding ways for schools and educators to address the issue of trauma and its implications for learning, behavior, and school safety.

Community Engagement and Dialogue:

• Community Schools : Community schools are public schools that provide services and support that fit each neighborhood’s needs, created and run by the people who know our children best.
• Strategies for Effective Health and Safety Dialogue : This NEA training module will help support families, educators, and students effectively communicate around health and safety issues.

Everytown Resources

• Everytown for Gun Safety : Everytown for Gun Safety is the largest gun violence prevention organization in America. The organization is a movement of more than 10 million supporters working to end gun violence.
• Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund : The Everytown Support Fund is the education, research, and litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety. It seeks to improve our understanding of the causes of gun violence and help to reduce it by conducting ground-breaking original research, developing evidence-based policies, communicating this knowledge to the American public, and advancing gun safety and gun violence prevention in communities and the courts.
• Be SMART : The Be SMART program focuses on fostering conversations with other adults about secure gun storage. In this context, the acronym stands for S ecure guns in homes and vehicles, M odel responsible behavior, A sk about unsecured guns in homes, R ecognize the role of guns in suicide, and T ell your peers to be SMART. The program’s purpose is to facilitate behavior change for adults and help parents and adults prevent child gun deaths and injuries.
• City Dashboard: Gun Homicide : The FBI is the leading source of city gun violence data across the country, covering more than 94 percent of the U.S. population in 2022. Everytown’s City Gun Homicide dashboard allows users to explore gun homicide trends across more than 500 cities with populations of 65,000+ that reported data to the FBI from 2018 to 2022.
• CityGRIP—Safe Passage : Safe passage programs provide safe routes to and from schools to reduce student exposure to gun violence. To achieve this goal, educators, law enforcement groups, and communities collaboratively implement protocols and procedures to ensure student safety.
• Community-Led Public Safety Strategies : For decades, community-based organizations have successfully reduced violence by implementing alternative public safety measures that are locally driven and informed by data. Often referred to as violence intervention programs, these strategies have expanded greatly over the years and include street outreach, group violence intervention, crime prevention through environmental design, hospital-based violence intervention programs, safe passage programs, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
• EveryStat : EveryStat is a one-stop source for gun violence in your state and county, including breakdowns by intent, race and ethnicity, gender, economic cost, and more.
• Everytown Gun Law Rankings :  Everytown compares gun policy across the country and scores every state on the strength of its gun law and compares it with its rate of gun violence.
• Everytown Law Fund : Everytown Law Fund provides support for impact litigation to advance the right of every person to be free from gun violence and to speak, work, learn, pray, assemble, protest, and vote without fear or intimidation.
• Everytown Survivor Network : The Everytown Survivor Network is a nationwide community of survivors working together to end gun violence. The network amplifies the power of survivor voices, offers trauma-informed programs, provides information on direct services, and supports survivors in their advocacy.
• Extreme Risk/Red Flag Laws : Extreme Risk laws, sometimes referred to as “red flag” laws, allow loved ones or law enforcement to intervene by petitioning a court for an order to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing guns.
• Gunfire on School Grounds : The database details the myriad ways in which gun violence manifests in U.S. schools.
• Mayors Against Illegal Guns : Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a coalition of mayors fighting to end gun violence by working to fight for gun safety laws and enact gun violence prevention strategies.
• Moms Demand Action : Moms Demand Action, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, is the nation’s largest grassroots volunteer network that is working to end gun violence. The organization campaigns for new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the safety of families, educates policymakers and parents about the importance of secure firearm storage, and works to create a culture of gun safety through partnerships with businesses, community organizations, and influencers. There is a Moms Demand Action chapter in every state and more than 700 local groups throughout the country.
• One Thing You Can Do : This database includes information about extreme risk orders by state. An extreme risk order is a way to intervene when there is reason to believe a loved one is at serious risk of harming themselves or others.
• Students Demand Action : Students Demand Action is the largest grassroots, youth-led gun violence prevention group in the country, with more than 800 groups and active volunteers in every state and the District of Columbia. The movement, created by and for teens and young adults, aims to channel the energy and passion of high school and college-age students into the fight against gun violence.

Other Resources

Safe and supportive school climates.

• Bullying Prevention : From the National Association of School Psychologists, this site provides resources to prevent bullying.
• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design : From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) focuses on principles to create safer schools by developing environments that promote positive behavior and reduce opportunities for violence to occur.
• Guiding Principles for Creating Safe, Inclusive, Supportive, and Fair School Climates : From the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, this document recommends evidence-based practices that schools and school districts can take to implement fair student discipline approaches, which keep students safely in learning environments and help to address disproportionality in discipline and exclusion.
• National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments : From the National Center on Safe and Supportive Schools, this site offers information and technical assistance to states, districts, schools, institutions of higher education, and communities focused on improving school climate and conditions for learning.
• The National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports : The center provides information, tools, and technical assistance for implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. These resources include guides, lesson plans, assessment surveys, and examples of how to integrate trauma-informed practices into PBIS.
• Resources for Educators : From Sandy Hook Promise, this site provides resources on multiple topics.
• Schoolsafety.gov : This interagency website created by the federal government provides a broad range of information, resources, and guidance to create safe and supportive learning environments for students and educators.

Mental Health Supports

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline : The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.
• Emotional CPR : Emotional CPR (eCPR) is an educational program designed to teach people to assist others through an emotional crisis by implementing three simple steps: C = Connecting; P = emPowering; and R = Revitalizing.
• Mental Health First Aid : Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based, early intervention course that teaches participants about mental health and substance use challenges.
• The Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network : Funded by SAMHSA, the center develops resources, disseminates information, and provides training and technical assistance to mental health work, including a free online course for educators on mental health literacy .
• Project Aware : Through SAMHSA, Project Aware (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) promotes a sustainable infrastructure for school-based mental health programs and services. AWARE grantees build collaborative partnerships with the state education agency, local education agency, tribal education agency, the state mental health agency, community-based providers of behavioral health care services, school personnel, community organizations, families, and school-age youth.
• Screen4Success : Screen4Success is a screening tool to identify areas where someone may benefit from more support on personal health, wellness, and well-being. It also provides local and national resources to help address those concerns. You can use the tool for self-screening, or you can send it to someone you are concerned about. You can also help that person fill out the screener—this provides opportunities for discussion in the moment—or they can complete it on their own if that’s not possible.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline : SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year information service, available in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. The site also includes additional resources.

Navigate to Other Sections of the Guide

Introduction, part two: gun violence preparation, part three: gun violence response, part four: gun violence recovery.

Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence. Everytown Research & Policy works to do so by conducting methodologically rigorous research, supporting evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge to the American public.

In partnership with

The National Education Association (NEA) is more than 3 million people—educators, students, activists, workers, parents, neighbors, and friends—who believe in the opportunity for all students and the power of public education to transform lives and create a more just and inclusive society. NEA has affiliate organizations in every state and more than 14,000 communities across the United States. NEA’s vision for safe, just, and equitable schools consists of thriving spaces that are safe and welcoming for all students; are discriminatory toward none; integrate the social, emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual needs of the whole student; and equitably and fully fund the community school model with wraparound services and resources. The resources in this guide can help make this vision a reality.

Navigating the VOCA Funding Process

Crime victim compensation: financial assistance after a crime.

Did you know?

Every day, more than 120 people in the United States are killed with guns, twice as many are shot and wounded, and countless others are impacted by acts of gun violence.

Everytown Research analysis of CDC, WONDER, Underlying Cause of Death , 2018–2022; Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) nonfatal firearm injury data, 2020; and SurveyUSA Market Research Study #26602 , 2022.

Last updated: 5.7.2024

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How groups in Chicago are countering the narrative their city is a hotbed of violence

Judy Woodruff Judy Woodruff

Frank Carlson Frank Carlson

Sarah Clune Hartman Sarah Clune Hartman

Connor Seitchik Connor Seitchik

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-groups-in-chicago-are-countering-the-narrative-their-city-is-a-hotbed-of-violence

Chicago has one of the highest rates of gun deaths of any major city in the country and some on the front lines say that’s rooted in a history of racism, violence and inequality dating back generations. Judy Woodruff reports for her ongoing series, America at a Crossroads.

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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Amna Nawaz:

Chicago has one of the highest rates of gun deaths of any major city in the country. And some on the front lines say that's rooted in a history of racism, violence and inequality dating back generations.

Judy Woodruff reports from Chicago as part of her ongoing series America at a Crossroads.

Damarion Spann, Tour Guide, My Block My Hood My City:

This is where Martin Luther King lived and worked while he stayed here in Chicago.

Judy Woodruff:

Sixteen-year-old Damarion Spann is giving a tour of North Lawndale, the West Chicago neighborhood where he grew up.

Damarion Spann:

While he stayed here in Chicago, Martin Luther King was struck by a rock from a white mob, and he stated that he never experienced so much hatred as he did here in Chicago.

It's a different story from what's typically told of this area, where the life expectancy is roughly 12 years shorter than the wealthy downtown Loop neighborhood, where unemployment is nearly twice as high as the rest of the city and the crime rate is nearly three times higher than the citywide average.

Starting in pre-K, we have all heard the narrative of the violence that happens in North Lawndale. But once you get to explore and see the community more, you start to understand the rich history of the community, Chicago is looked at as violent, and that's not fear to the students and to the adults who are actually working against that narrative and who's pushing for positive things.

Do you feel, as someone who's grown up in this city, that your concerns are heard by the politicians?

A national point of view, I don't think students from our community get heard at all.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: What's going on in Chicago?

Indeed, conservative media and former President Trump focus on the ongoing violence in Chicago, an example, they argue, of the failure of cities led by Democrats.

And Chicago turned into a war zone. At least 53 people were shot, 11 of them killed.

Jeanine Pirro, FOX News Anchor:

It is time to demonize them, and it is time to send them to jail.

Lady Sanders, Program Manager, My Block My Hood My City:

They only broadcast the bad. Like, North Lawndale is way more than what they portray on the news.

Lady Sanders helps organize these youth-led tours of North Lawndale for a nonprofit called My Block My Hood My City. She says the tours introduce outsiders to this misunderstood neighborhood and give youth a productive outlet.

Lady Sanders:

They become more confident because it's their neighborhood, and people are coming to see them talk about where they're from and what they see every day.

With 77 so-called community areas in all, neighborhood identity is a fundamental aspect life in Chicago, the country's most segregated big city.

North Lawndale, like many South and West Side Chicago neighborhoods, is majority-Black. Much of this segregation can be traced to the Great Migration of a century ago. Black Americans from the Jim Crow South moved north, seeking greater opportunities, but what they found was not the segregation imposed by Jim Crow, but new and different barriers.

Franklin Cosey-Gay, Director, University of Chicago Medicine Violence Recovery Program: Ida B. Wells, who was a noted activist, journalist, said Chicago was beginning to rival the Jim Crow South in its treatment of the Negro.

Franklin Cosey-Gay directs the University of Chicago Medicine's Violence Recovery Program, and he researches the economic, social and historic causes of gun violence in the city. He points to over a century of racist violence against Black Chicagoans and housing discrimination that has helped create the situation today.

Franklin Cosey-Gay:

We're talking about a $3 billion to $4 billion wealth gap between white Chicagoans and Black Chicagoans that's directly tied to the inability to develop equity from housing.

Cosey-Gay recalls that, in 1919, during the Red Summer, when Black Americans across the country were terrorized, 23 Black Chicagoans were killed and hundreds more were injured in this city; 15 white Chicagoans were also killed in the violence.

And between 1917 and 1921, 58 Black Chicagoans were firebombed in their homes.

Not one person was arrested for those house bombings. What we begin to see is that physical violence was being used to constrain the movement of African Americans.

In the coming decades, that physical violence would morph into discriminatory housing policies. Restrictive housing covenants kept Black renters out.

So-called redlining by financial institutions, in concert with the federal government, limited Black Chicagoans' ability to access loans for homes and businesses. And unable to get mortgages, they were forced into predatory contracts to buy houses at exorbitant prices, with high interest rates and harsh eviction clauses that made it nearly impossible for many to build equity or actually own their home.

Later, highways were built through Black neighborhoods. And then came the construction and later the demolition of tens of thousands of units of public housing.

Some of the fundamental things that help keep people safe are the ability to provide social support for each other, their ability to have beliefs on what they think their community should look like, and their ability to use their collective power to enforce those beliefs.

What you're doing is that you're disrupting the very things in terms of how people can support each other, which creates conditions for violence.

Cosey-Gay says, instead of addressing these root causes of gun violence within communities like North Lawndale, the city of Chicago has tried to manage it mainly through more policing, and that hasn't worked.

It is basically a process that keeps repeating itself. It has a new face. The United States government in itself is complicit, and we need to address that.

Damarion Spann worries about police interactions in North Lawndale, where 70 percent of men aged 17 to 45 have criminal records.

Have you had encounters yourself with the police?

I had an encounter with an officer. It wasn't a good encounter, yelling in your face, pushing you around, threatening to arrest you if you don't listen to their orders. The police is set to serve and protect, but I really don't agree with that motto.

Pastor Phil Jackson, Firehouse Community Arts Center of Chicago: You have history of politicians for years who have downplayed or ignored these impoverished areas.

Pastor Phil Jackson runs the Firehouse Community Arts Center in North Lawndale, an organization trying to reduce gun violence in the community and help residents process trauma.

Pastor Phil Jackson:

A lot of companies and factories have left, so it takes a politician to take a chance, which might seem like a black hole to others, to invest in a neighborhood. It seems like pulling teeth sometimes with different powers that be to make that happen.

There are a lot of people who try to make things happen and work, but there's a lot of systems in place that seem to pull back.

I mean, there are folks who look at what's going on in inner-city Chicago…

… and say — they almost throw their hands up.

They have kind of written off this part of the country.

Folks who've been in this neighborhood 50, 60 years, they stayed and weathered the storm, weathered situations, weathered hurt in their own life. So even though things look so repetitive and so notorious and so heartbreaking, there are people on the ground that are making a difference.

Jahmal Cole, Founder, My Block My Hood My City:

I don't want to be killed, but all my heroes doing the work that I do have been killed, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy.

In 2015, Jahmal Cole founded the nonprofit My Block My Hood My City to try to deal with the epidemic of gun violence between young people here. He says he loves connecting with the community, including on his occasional runs.

Jahmal Cole:

A lot of our students, they have been to 15 funerals by the time they were in ninth grade.

Cole, 41, was out running two years ago when he heard gunshots.

I thought a tire popped, because you don't feel getting shot. I was, like, bleeding really bad. You think you're going to die. You ain't going to see your kids no more, your wife, your family. Yes, it's traumatizing.

Cole's organization takes a holistic approach to dealing with gun violence, trying to build community through block cleanup events, expose young people to opportunities through field trips to parts of the city they have never seen, give scholarships to local students, and pay tour guides like Damarion Spann.

The purpose really is, like, to just leave a love and build relationships with youth and keep them alive. How can we wrap around you and make sure we get you to college? If it is health care, OK, how can we help you with that? Is it mental health? There's no — barely any counselors in schools.

What do you say to those folks who look at what's going on in inner-city Chicago and say, yes, it's really bad, they need to stop using so many guns, a lot of this is their own responsibility, their own fault?

I would challenge them to put themselves in a position of hearing gunshots every day, the position of having parents abuse drugs, the position of being afraid. I'm sorry. I'm getting emotional thinking about it.

It's not fair. It's not fair that people say that, because it's like they don't know what it's like to be in these kids' shoes.

The young people, I mean, do they have a sense that the country cares about them?

Oh, no. Yes, they don't — no, the judge doesn't care about them. That's what they tell me all the time. The judge doesn't want to hear my story. How am I going to listen to a teacher when I don't have health insurance and I'm sleeping on the train?

Cole says this neighborhood needs help, more government funding, economic investment and social services. But after generations of neglect, disinvestment, and discrimination, he acknowledges change also has to come from within the community.

There needs to be 1,000 things done to reduce gun violence in Chicago, and a third of that might be legislative.

I think the best thing for people to do is to ask themselves, what's something simple I can do that will make a difference on my block?

Damarion Spann is trying to do that, but says he also wants to do more to try to change the whole system.

What I want to do is go to college and receive my degree in political science, eventually come back and run for alderperson for the North Lawndale community, start on more of a local level, alderperson, mayor.

Then I want to go to like a federal level, presidential.

You might want to run for president one day?

That takes a lot of self-confidence.

A black boy coming from the North Lawndale community is expected to do the very least. So I want to do the very most and prove everyone that doubted those Black boys that's coming from the community and show them that it is possible.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Judy Woodruff in Chicago, Illinois.

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Gun Violence - Essay Samples And Topic Ideas For Free

Gun violence refers to acts of violence committed with the use of firearms. Essays might discuss the causes and consequences of gun violence, the debate around gun control policies, the impact of gun violence on communities, and comparisons of gun violence and gun control measures across different countries. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to Gun Violence you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Solutions to Gun Violence

Firearms are one of the most debated issues in the United States. On the one hand are the people who demand and require more strict control in the possession and distribution of guns, and on the other side are the people who pressure the government to keep the laws as they are. Buying a gun in this country takes less than an hour. It is very sad how an individual can purchase a gun easily. It is unhappy because some […]

Gun Violence and Gun Control

Gun violence in America is a never-ending series of tragedy after tragedy, mass-shooting and the one of the constant social problem in United State. Many innocent lives have been taken to gun violence from Sandy Hook elementary, Pulse nightclub in Orlando, 2017 Las Vegas, Columbine High School, and all of that violence has been increasing. The Second Amendment, the right of the people to bear arms, has given the individual to own a gun, but many have abused the power […]

The Gun Problem in America

Introduction As stated in the Social Problems textbook, “Social problems: Continuity and change”, “A social problem is any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed” (2015). As a result, I decided to discuss the social problem of the second amendment. Since the founding of the United States of America, the right to bear arms has always been a hot button […]

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Examining the Deep Impact of U.S. Gun Violence on American Society

U.S. gun violence has had put a struggle on american living and the quality of it. Its put America into a spiral of fear, a lot of people don't know the extent of how its effecting are lives and the way we live. Schools have built there security, airports and all other large businesses and or public businesses have also done the same. Laws have been getting stricter and stricter but simply some people just dont listen and obey those […]

The Problem of the Gun Violence

In success central, I attended a small breakout session about gun violence. At first, I thought this breakout session was going to be over gun control and politics but it was more in depth. The session was about how a victim truly feels after being affected by gun violence. Some of the statistics that I learned at the session is, gun-related deaths are now the third leading cause of death for American children. One of the main reasons i enjoyed […]

Should Teachers Carry Guns

Over the past several years there have been mass shootings in America that has struck the feelings of many Americans. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, extended family, and strangers have all been affected by the victims of shootings at Aurora, Colorado, Columbine High school, and Sandy Hook Elementary school. Because of these tragedies, U.S. citizens have become more involved and interested in gun control and prevention of gun violence. Gun Control is a controversial issue that many people have different views […]

Why Gun Violence Increasing

Gun violence has had a drastic increase over the years, leaving the United States desperate for laws to be implemented concerning the well-being and safety of citizens. Terrifying events surrounding gun violence have left researchers with no option but to investigate gun laws and regulations. Only some states require permits in order to purchase a firearm and background checks are required by federal law to anyone purchasing a gun as well. A citizen at the age of 21 is legal […]

Mental Health Screenings and the Effect on Gun Violence

Historically speaking, guns were used for hunting and for protection. In the late 1700's, the Revolutionary War began from Britain's pursuit to take away the colonists weaponry and oppress them. Lexington and Concord was the beginning of the fight for freedom. When Britain surrendered at Yorktown in 1781, the colonists had won their independence. The first constitution called the Articles of Confederation was ratified by all thirteen colonies in 1781 and was in place until 1789 when the U.S Constitution […]

Gun Control Vs Gun Rights

In the U.S, there is a lot of controversy about gun control laws. There are protests, arguments, and laws that not many agree with because it does not support their Second Amendment rights. What truly did the Founding Fathers mean by the Second Amendment? Pro-gun supporters believe it was meant for individuals to have access to guns while gun control supporters believe it was for trained officials. Many people are trying to find a solution on how it should be […]

Combating Gun Violence

A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a school or university, involving the use of firearms. The first recorded school shooting in the United States took place in 1840, when a law student shot and killed his professor at the University of Virginia. Despite that crime rates in the United States are declining, and homicide specifically is especially rare, many people believe that school shootings are becoming epidemic, occurring more frequently than the have in […]

Students Protest and Addresses Gun Violence

A schools' biggest fear is having a shooter come onto campus. There has been so many incidents on the news that people are trying to find solutions for this issue. Students need to feel safe while they are learning. I have found three articles of school shootings that go into detail about what took place on those days. Each author has had an interesting stand-point about what should happen next. In this paper, i will be comparing the authors perspective […]

The Second Amendment – Firearm Legislation

Americans are being murdered at unprecedented rates and little action has been attempted to prevent similar events from reoccurring. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ninety-six Americans die by firearms every day (The Editorial Board). Ninety-six lives end because of a bullet. It is unethical and immoral for that many people to perish, and for there to be little change made. Unfortunately, legislators can not just simply change firearm laws due to the long-standing and well-respected second […]

The State of Gun Violence in the US

Gun violence in today's America has become routine and common. This violence causes a surprising number of deaths and injuries throughout the United States. The main lethal weapon used to take part in violence is the gun. That's one of the reason why stricter gun control policy is needed to make it impossible to own a gun for those who should not own them in the first place. Taking such action could make our neighborhood is a safer place to […]

Stop Gun Violence

Guns in America are ruining our society. Watch the news any day and you will most likely see either a school shooting ora shooting at some type of gathering. For some children going to school is horrifying because they are extremely disturbed by the school shootings that are going in our society. Children as young as kindergarten are learning how to act in the case of a school shooting. Yet, guns are killing innocent people by being able to have […]

Understanding Gun Violence

Almost each and every other year there gets to be cases and more cases related to gun violence where from one point one gets to hear about some suicide by gun, some forceful assaults, some kind of accidental occurrences with a gun and many more. With the unending rising cases linked to the same, there still is quite a lot to be looked at especially when trying to cover the same situation and be able to make sure that one […]

Gun Violence and the Second Amendment

According the Cornell Law Studies Institute, the second amendment states, "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The Second Amendment of the constitution is one of the most misunderstood and confusing sentences in the history of America. The 27-word sentence has a partial collectivist ora while still maintaining the individualistic right to keep and bear arms. Before discussing the reasons behind […]

The Problem of Mass Shootings

Mass shootings are problematic, because they are getting more deadly and more frequent. Mass shootings are defined as a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant/shooter ("Guns in the US: The Statistics"). Mass shootings have been shown to be contagious, meaning that a mass shooting one day increases the likelihood of others in the following days (Leatherby). Five of the eighteen most lethal shootings in America since 1949 have occured between 2007 and […]

Gun Violence Prevention

The right to own a gun is established as the Second Amendment in the United States Constitution. Though this right is guaranteed, our country’s relationship with guns is a tumultuous one. Gun laws vary by each state, for instance California gun laws states that, “An application for sale or transfer must be made with a licensed California gun dealer before any firearm may be sold or transferred. The purchaser must present the dealer with a valid California Driver’s License or […]

How the Government Can Decrease Gun Violence

There should be more gun control laws to control gun violence. The debate on gun control in America has been up for deliberation for decades. Almost forty thousand people are killed each year due to homicidal, accidental, and suicidal use of guns (Politics 7). Despite the fact that America has approximately twenty thousand gun laws, there are still often occurring crime due to gun violence. To fix this problem, the government should enforce stricter background checks for all gun sales, […]

Impact of Gun Violence

The constitution of America has various amendments that provide many kinds of leverage to its people, like right to vote, right to speech etc. Among them, one of the most controversial amendment is Second Amendment which gives people right to bear weapons like gun, for their safety. Safety is one of the basic needs of people and they should be provided to the people. However, the word 'safety' is a critical term here; is it really safe to have people […]

How to Change the Gun Violence Situation in the US

In the United States, the number of cases of gun violence have increased tremendously. The reason why these numbers have been so high is because guns have been made easily accessible to the general public. The implications that gun violence has had on the country are so damaging that it is time that the American government come up with ways in which the availability of guns to the American citizens can be restrained. Due to the gun violence situation; people […]

The Las Vegas Shooting, Gun Control and American Violence

The night of October 1, 2017 at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas was interrupted by the sound of gun fire that was opened by a gunman from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino (Time, 2017). As Time reported, in this massive shooting, which went on for 10-15 minutes at about a crowd of 20,000 people, more than 500 people were injured and at least 50 people were killed (Time, 2017). With this tragic […]

The Question of Gun Violence

The first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one (Mcavoy). America is a country overflowing with individuals holding a great sense of nationalism and pride. Many of these individuals remark that America is the greatest country in the world. This statement is direct, and it takes a stand that no other country is as great as America. Although the United States has many aspects that are great, gun violence is a rising issue holding back the country. […]

Gun Violence in Parkland Florida

There are over thirty thousand deaths a year in the United States related to gun violence with Americans using guns for defensive purposes as many as a million times every year. These deaths are a result of suicides, homicides and accidents. It is evident that gun violence and gun control are issues of serious national importance and are worth debating. The main issues and arguments found in the debate over gun control in the United States have not changed a […]

Public Health Solutions: Gun Violence

Gun violence accounts for approximately 35,000 deaths and 89,600 injuries annually in the United States (Gun Violence in America, 2018). It consists of both intentional and unintentional assault, domestic and family violence, law enforcement intervention, homicide, suicide, self-harm, and undetermined causes (Gun Violence in America, 2018). According to Santhanam (2018), in 2016 the United States ranked second in gun-related deaths, after Brazil and before India. Gun violence is a prominent issue in American society and is certainly a public health […]

Reducing School Gun Violence in New Mexico

School gun violence in the United States is on the rise. Since 2014 there have been an average of five school shootings per month. Since Sandy Hook in 2012, there have been at least 239 school shootings nationwide. In these school shootings 438 were shot, and 138 were killed, and 16 shootings were classified as where 4 or more people were shot. (Preventing School Violence: Assessing Armed Guardians, School Policy, and Context.) More people, including students and teachers, were killed […]

The Problem of Gun Politics in the United States

The Brady campaign to prevent gun violence states every day 8 children and teens die from gun violence, 4 are murdered, 3 die from suicide and 1 killed unintentionally. Every day 39 children and teens are shot and survive, 31 injured in an attack, 1 survives a suicide attempt and 7 shot unintentionally Not only is the 2nd amendment giving access to have a gun to protect ourselves, it is giving others access to commit violent crimes that involve a […]

Gun Violence in America

The issue of gun violence has attracted a heated debate in the US. With time, people have advanced significantly in gun availability and the power to buy military-style firearms, which has led to more likelihood of criminals getting guns that they can use for mass destruction. Yet, burning gun ownership can be a significant issue since most civilians who buy firearms do so to ensure their protection and safety. Many supporters of gun ownership postulate that firearms do not kill, […]

Why does Drug Trafficking Cause Gun Violence

There is a strong relationship between drug trafficking, drug use, and gun violence. The research attempts to come up with a solution for the research question why does drug trafficking cause gun violence. Most youths have been involved in the use of drugs like marijuana, stimulants, hallucinogens, crack cocaine, heroin, and cocaine hence being involved in violence including gun violence (Johnson, Golub, Dunlap, 2000) This research will play a major role in improving academic research, sow the existing causal effect […]

Gun Violence in America: who is to Blame?

Too often, when you raise the issue of guns in this country, it starts a debate with both sides pointing the blame at each other. In the middle, we hear the voices of children who’ve witnessed the killing of their friends and teachers and who are sounding out for action. The question is, will we listen to them? Will we care enough to do something? Horrific tragedies like the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School a little under a […]

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How To Write an Essay About Gun Violence

Introduction to the issue of gun violence.

Gun violence is a pressing issue in today's society, affecting countless lives and communities. When setting out to write an essay on this topic, it's crucial to first establish a comprehensive understanding of what gun violence entails. This involves not just looking at the statistics and incidents of shootings, but also understanding the various forms of gun violence – from mass shootings to domestic incidents and suicides. The introduction of your essay should present the topic's relevance and urgency, outlining the scope of the issue and its impact on society. This stage is about laying the groundwork for your argument, identifying the key aspects of gun violence that you will explore in the rest of your essay.

Developing Your Argument

The body of your essay should be dedicated to developing a well-structured argument. Start by defining your thesis statement clearly. What aspect of gun violence are you focusing on? Are you examining its causes, the effectiveness of gun control laws, or the societal impact of gun-related incidents? Each paragraph should tackle a specific point that supports your thesis, with evidence and examples to back up your claims. This might include data on gun violence rates, analysis of legislation and its effectiveness, or case studies of particular incidents. It's also important to consider and address counterarguments, as this demonstrates a thorough understanding of the topic and strengthens your own position.

Ethical and Societal Implications

An essay on gun violence should also delve into the ethical and societal implications of the issue. This is where you can explore the broader context of gun violence, such as its impact on public health, the ethical debates surrounding gun ownership and rights, and the societal factors that contribute to the prevalence of gun violence. Discuss the balance between individual rights and public safety, the role of mental health, and the impact of cultural and societal norms around guns. This part of the essay challenges readers to think beyond the immediate effects of gun violence and consider the larger societal structures that enable it.

Concluding the Discussion

In your conclusion, bring together all the threads of your argument, reaffirming your thesis and summarizing the key points you've discussed. This is your opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the reader. You might want to reflect on the broader implications of gun violence for future societal and legislative changes. Suggest possible solutions or areas for further research, and encourage your readers to think critically about their stance on gun violence. A strong conclusion will not only wrap up your essay neatly but will also provoke further thought and discussion on this critical issue.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Gun Control — Gun Control in the United States

Gun Control in The United States

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Published: Jul 17, 2018

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Essay: VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

M an and society are born out of both: violence and gentle cooperation.” That is how Psychiatrist Bruno Bettelheim defines a paradoxical but inescapable fact touching the whole history of “the children of Cain.” How the two forces are balanced in an individual helps determine his behavior, even his sanity. How they are balanced in society helps determine its political organization, the degree and condition of its civilization. In the U.S. today, it seems to many that violence is in the ascendant over cooperation, disruption over order, and anger over reason.

The greatest single source of this fear lies in the Negro riots that keep tearing at American cities. What is alarming about them is not merely the frustration and bitterness they proclaim, not merely the physical and psychological damage they cause, but also the fact that a few Negro leaders are deliberately trying to justify the riots with a violent and vengeful ideology. This in turn can all too easily be seen as just one aspect of a whole American panorama of violence.

The crime rate keeps rising, or seems to, especially in senseless killings and wanton attacks. Fear of the darkened city streets has become a fact of urban life. The memories of bizarre multiple murders linger in the mind—13 people dead in Austin from a sniper’s rifle, eight nurses in Chicago killed by a demented drifter. The recollection of the Kennedy assassination remains part of the scene. A burgeoning, largely uncontrolled traffic in guns has put firearms into some 50 million American homes, many of their owners insisting that the weapons are needed for self-defense. In the movies and on television, murder and torture seem to be turning Americans into parlor sadists. A recent trend on the stage is the “theater of cruelty,” and a growing number of books delve into the pornography of violence.

The rest of the world is ready to adjudge America as an excessively violent country in which brutal, irrational force can erupt any minute on a massive scale. This view is reinforced by the sheer driving energy of the U.S. It seems confirmed by the American folklore of violence—the Western and the gangster saga—which audiences all over the world worship as epic entertainment and as a safe refuge for dreams of lawless freedom. In a very different way, the view of America the Violent is also reinforced by the Vietnamese war, in which critics both at home and abroad profess to see a growing strain of American brutality.

Comparative Mayhem

Violence is so universal and elusive that sociology and psychology can only approximate a complex truth. Comparisons with other countries are illuminating but hardly conclusive. The U.S. has certainly experienced nothing like the massacre of 400,000 Communists in Indonesia; nor have Watts or Newark approached the lethal fury of an Indian or an Arab mob. But these are countries at vastly different levels of civilization. In the industrialized world, the U.S. undeniably ranks high in violence. The U.S. homicide rate stands at around five deaths for 100,000 people. This compares with .7 in England, 1.4 in Canada, 1.5 in France, 1.5 in Japan (but 32 in Mexico). Within the U.S., the rate varies widely, from about 11 per 100,000 in Georgia and Alabama to 6.1 in New York and .5 in Vermont. Not that homicide or any other statistics can tell the complete story.

The U.S. is in the grip of a semipermanent revolution, constantly undergoing social and economic changes that in Europe might send people to the barricades. Occasionally, Americans may still try to re-enact the two-fisted frontiersman, but the real source of much American violence is the swift pace of social change, which can be deeply disturbing to the less stable personalities in a society. Europe has usually experienced its revolutions spasmodically, at fairly long intervals, while in between it tends to defer to official authority far more than do Americans.

Measuring itself not against others but against its own past, the U.S. has good reason to believe that the country as a whole is growing less violent. The roots of violence in the American past are obvious: the Revolution, the Indian wars, slavery, the Civil War, that crucial and necessary test between two societies (when Fort Sumter was fired on, Emerson said: “Now we have a country again. Sometimes gunpowder smells good”). Race riots erupted almost as soon as the Negroes were emancipated, the worst being the New York draft riots of 1863. The Ku Klux Klan relied on raw violence to keep the Negroes from exercising the rights they had gained. In its way, frontier violence was also the result of social change: new, transplanted populations, new sources of wealth, new elites struggling for power. The wonder, perhaps, was not that the frontier was violent, but that its people tried so quickly to establish some sort of law.

Changing Pattern

In the cities, each wave of new immigration evoked violent reactions, many of which were instigated in the mid-1800s by the original Know-Nothings and their many later imitators. Immigrant groups themselves battled with one another, caught up in ethnic feuds. Above all, the American labor movement was the most violent in the world. From the 1870s to the 1930s, bloody battles between strikers and company cops or state militia were frequent. Labor leaders often deliberately used violence to dramatize the workers’ plight—and, in time, they succeeded. On the fringes of the movement were some odd secret organizations, including the Molly Maguires, a band of Pennsylvania miners who assassinated fellow workers and bosses alike in an attempt to win better pay and working conditions. The Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World) sang the praises of violence and provided numerous labor saints and martyrs. The great gangs that appeared in Chicago, New York and elsewhere in the 1920s were also social symptoms: not merely the fiefdoms of “little Caesars” bent on money and power, but the expression of a moral vacuum in the U.S.

Against this background, violence on the American scene today is still alarming, but it scarcely suggests a disastrous deterioration. Public tolerance of violence seems lower than ever before in U.S. life, and public respect for law far higher. Above all, there is evidence to show that—some statistics to the contrary—violent crime in the U.S. is not really growing relative to the population. After massive researches, the President’s Crime Commission admits that crime trends cannot be conclusively proven out by available figures. According to FBI reckoning, crimes of violence have risen about 35% so far in the 1960s. But these figures fail to consider two important factors: population growth and changes in crime reporting. Experts believe that part of the apparent increase is caused by the fact that each year the police grow more thorough—and the poor are less reluctant—about reporting crime that previously went unrecorded. Says Sociologist Marvin Wolfgang, president of the American Society of Criminology: “Contrary to the rise in public fear, crimes of violence are not significantly increasing.”

But their pattern is changing. The incidence of murder and robbery relative to population has decreased by 30% in the past three decades. On the other hand, rape has tripled. Males are seven times more likely to commit violent crimes than women, but the women are catching up: in five years, arrests of women for crimes of violence rose 62% above 1960 v. 18% for men. From the newest figures, certain other patterns emerge. Despite widespread fear of strangers, most crimes of violence are committed by a member of the family or an acquaintance. The arrest rate for murder among Negroes is ten times that among whites, but most of the violent crimes committed by Negroes are against other Negroes. Violence is increasingly an urban phenomenon: 26 large cities containing less than one-fifth of the U.S. population account for more than half of all major crimes against the person. Poets sometimes have sociological insights, and Robert Lowell knew what he was talking about in his lines:

When Cain beat out his brother Abel’s brains

The Maker laid great cities in his soul.

Innate or Learned

Violence is not only an urban but overwhelmingly a lower-class phenomenon. In Atlanta, for example, neighborhoods with family incomes below $3,000 show a violent-crime rate eight times higher than among $9,000 families. In the middle class, violence is perhaps sublimated increasingly in sport or other pursuits. Says Sociologist Wolfgang: “The gun and fist have been substantially replaced by financial ability, by the capacity to manipulate others in complex organizations, and by intellectual talent. The thoughtful wit, the easy verbalizer, even the striving musician and artist are equivalents of male assertiveness, where broad shoulders and fighting fists were once the major symbols.”

What are the seeds of violence? Freud found “a powerful measure of desire for aggression” in human instincts. He added: “The very emphasis of the commandment ‘Thou shall not kill’ makes it certain that we are descended from an endlessly long chain of generations of murderers, whose love of murder was in their blood, as it is perhaps also in ours.” Further, Freud held that man possesses a death instinct which, since it cannot be satisfied except in suicide, is instead turned outward as aggression against others. Dr. Fredric Wertham, noted crusader against violence, disagrees sharply and argues that violence is learned behavior, not a product of nature but of society: “The violent man is not the natural but the socially alienated man.”

The fact is that if violence is not innate, it is a basic component of human behavior. The German naturalist Konrad Lorenz believes that, unlike other carnivores, man did not at an early stage develop inhibitions against killing members of his own species—because he was too weak. As he developed weapons, he learned to kill, and he also learned moral restraints, but these never penetrated far enough. Writes Lorenz: “The deep emotional layers of our personality simply do not register the fact that the cocking of a forefinger to release a shot tears the entrails of another man.”

The yearning for nonviolence is as real as the yearning for love but, East or West, no religion has succeeded in establishing a society based on it. When trying to point to a really nonviolent community, anthropologists are usually forced to resort to the Arapesh of New Guinea or the Pygmies of the Ituri rain forest in the Congo. The human impulse to violence cannot be completely denied or suppressed. When that is tried, the result is often an inner violence in man that can burst out all the more fiercely later. At times the U.S. displays a kind of false prudery about violence to the point where, in the words of Psychiatrist Robert Coles, “almost anything related to forcefulness and the tensions between people is called violent.” While this attitude (including Dr. Wertham’s frequent blasts at anything from military toys to Batman) is plainly unrealistic, there is no denying that a gruesome violence on screens and in print is threatening to get out of hand. According to one theory, such vicarious experience of violence is healthy because it relieves the viewer’s own aggressions. But recent tests suggest the opposite.

Violence can be a simple, rational reaching for a goal, in its legal form of war or its illegal form of crime. It can often be irrational, as in a seemingly senseless killing or quarrel. But the distinction between irrational and rational violence is not easily drawn. Even the insane murderer kills to satisfy a need entirely real to him. Violence is often caused by “displaced aggression,” when anger is forced to aim at a substitute target. Every psychologist knows that a man might beat his child because he cannot beat his boss. And a man may even murder because he feels rejected or “alienated.” But what leads one man in such a situation to kill and another merely to get drunk is a question psychologists have never really answered. There is no doubt that violence has a cathartic effect, and the pressures that cause it must find an outlet of one kind or another. (Japan’s Matsushita Electric Co. has set up a dummy of the foreman that workers can beat up on a given day once a week, thereby presumably releasing their aggressions.)

But the aims of violence are usually mixed. Several violent codes combine a functional purpose with an emotional mystique. This was true of the aristocratic dueling code, which served to maintain a social hierarchy that became enshrouded in trappings of honor and death. It is true of the city gang, which functions as a rough and ready community but also includes a mystique in which violence is equated with courage and crime with merit. It is, finally, true of revolutionary ideology, which combines the brutal but often practical belief that only violence can pull down the existing order through a crude poetry about the purifying properties of blood and fire. “I believe in the cutting off of heads,” proclaimed Marat during the French Revolution, and his contemporary, the Marquis de Sade, preached, in the duller pages of his books, the virtue of murder as policy. Explains Brandeis University Sociologist Lewis Coser: “The act of violence commits a man symbolically to the revolutionary movement and breaks his ties with his previous life. He is, so to speak, reborn.” The late Frantz Fanon, a polemicist for anticolonial revolution, wrote: “Violence is a cleansing force. It frees the native from his inferiority complex.”

Cutting Edge

It is something resembling this revolutionary mystique that Stokely Carmichael and a few others are trying to impose on the Amerian Negro movement. Mixed with the anarchical slogans of “Burn, baby, burn!” and “Tear down the courthouses,” there is a calculated conviction that violence is above all else a language, and that this language, through fear, will persuade white society to give things to the Negro that it would not otherwise give. Says Lester Mc-Kinney, Washington head of S.N.C.C.: “In the minds of the people, history has proved that any meaningful social change has come through a bloody revolution.” Many Negro leaders point to the violent tactics of the labor movement in gaining its ends. Even Negro Sociologist Kenneth Clark, no advocate of black power, calls violence “the cutting edge of justice.” Social change for Negroes is moving faster than at any time in 100 years; for that very reason, Negroes were able to decide that things were still moving too slowly. The riots, as the President’s Crime Commission report puts it, are a way to “let America know.”

But the language of violence is crude and dangerous for those who use it. As Hannah Arendt notes, the Western tradition is full of violence and its legend seems to say, “whatever brotherhood human beings may be capable of has grown out of fratricide”; yet she also points out that neither wars nor revolutions are “ever completely determined by violence. Where violence rules absolutely, everything and everybody must fall silent.” Violence is not power. In the last analysis it is an admission of failure, a desire for a magical shortcut, an act of despair. Shameful though conditions in the Negro ghettos are, violence is not really the only language left in which to appeal for improvement.

Dealing with violence, the U.S. faces several tasks, none easy. One is to provide more intelligent, effective law enforcement and, through legislation, to do away with the dangerous unfettered sale of firearms. Another is nothing less than the elimination of the ghetto and what it stands for: an increasingly disaffected population. Though probably there will always be violence—out of anger or greed, love or madness—large-scale, socially significant violence is usually caused by authentic grievances, and the U.S. should be able to narrow if not eliminate these. But that leaves, finally, the individual flash or explosion of violence; and to deal with this, man must learn more about man—the mystery that can turn creative energy into brute force, a peaceful crowd into a mob, and an ineffectual weakling into a mass murderer.

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Gun Violence in the United States of America

Introduction.

Gun violence in the United States of America is a growing epidemic that has become a major public health and safety concern. Every year, thousands of people are killed or injured by firearms across the United States, making firearms the leading cause of death and injury in the country (Butkus et al., 2018). The rate of firearm homicide in the United States is six times higher than in other high-income countries, and suicide by firearm is also much more common. Gun violence can take many forms, including mass shootings, homicides, suicides, and accidental shooting (Wintemute, 2015). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were an estimated 30,000 firearm-related deaths in the United States in 2016. This figure represents a more than 10,000-person increase from 2015. Men commit the vast majority of gun violence in the United States. Male shooters are responsible for more than three-quarters of all firearm deaths in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that tracks gun violence data. Furthermore, gun violence disproportionately affects African Americans and Hispanics (Botty van den Bruele & Crandall, 2021). There are various causes of gun violence, including mental health issues, access to firearms, substance abuse, and lax gun laws.

Causes of Mass Violence

Mental health issues.

Mental health issues have been linked to gun violence in the United States for many years. Studies have found that certain mental health conditions, such as depression and psychosis, are associated with an increased risk of violence. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, people with mental health conditions are more likely to react violently to stressful situations. This can lead them to commit acts of violence, such as shooting someone, even if they have never before displayed violent behavior. Following a traumatic event, such as a shooting, people with mental health conditions may experience intense feelings of sadness, anger, and fear. This can lead to an increased risk of violence (Swanson et al., 2016).

Mental health conditions can also lead to problems with impulse control, which can make it difficult for someone to control their actions when they are angry or upset. This can lead them to act out in a violent way, including using guns (Metzl, Piemonte & McKay, 2021). A research carried out by the University of Pennsylvania in 2016 found that people with mental health conditions are almost twice as likely to be involved in a mass shooting as those who do not have mental health conditions. This is because people with mental health conditions often have difficulty controlling their emotions, which can lead to them becoming violent (Metzl et al., 2021).

Access to Firearms

Access to firearms can contribute to mass gun violence in the United States in numerous ways. One of the most concerning aspects of the issue is the easy access to firearms, particularly military-style assault weapons, which are used in a high number of mass shootings. Firearms are also commonly obtained illegally, which makes them more difficult to track and regulate. For example, in the December 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 20 children and six adults were killed by Adam Lanza using a military-style assault rifle that he had illegally obtained (Werbick et al., 2021).

Besides, access to firearms also contributes to mass gun violence through the use of firearms in suicides. For example, a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that between 1999 and 2013, there were a total of 381 suicides involving firearms, including 247 with handguns and 126 with rifles. This indicates that firearm suicide is a major contributor to mass gun violence in the United States (Santaella-Tenorio et al., 2016). Mother Jones conducted a study in 2016 and discovered that states with more guns had higher rates of gun violence, including mass shootings. This suggests that the ease of access to firearms is a significant factor contributing to gun violence in the United States (Botty van den Bruele & Crandall, 2021).

Substance Abuse

Substance abuse has been linked to gun violence in the United States of America in a number of ways. For example, people who abuse alcohol or drugs are more likely to engage in impulsive and dangerous behaviors that can lead to violence. This includes things like using guns in fights or shooting at people without actually intending to kill them. A practical example of this is the case of Adam Lanza, who killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 after he had been drinking heavily beforehand (Werbick et al., 2021).

Additionally, substance abusers are more likely to have troubled mental health histories that can lead to violent behavior. This is particularly true when it comes to drugs like methamphetamine, which can cause psychotic episodes and violence. All of this makes it very difficult for people who are struggling with substance abuse to stay safe and refrain from using guns in violent situations (Skeem & Mulvey, 2020). A good example of this is the case of Dylann Roof, who killed nine people at a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015 after spending time on white supremacist websites. In a similar case, Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded fourteen others in Santa Barbara, California in 2014 after posting a series of videos detailing his Plans to kill women. Based on these examples, it is clear that substance abuse and mental health problems can lead to dangerous and violent behavior (Botty van den Bruele & Crandall, 2021).

Lax Gun Laws

The gun laws in the United States of America are considered to be some of the most lax in the world. This means that there are a lot of loopholes in these laws, which allows people with ill intentions to get their hands on firearms. This has led to an increase in gun violence in the United States of America, as criminals and terrorists can easily get their hands on firearms. In fact, there has been an increase of gun violence in the United States of America even after many measures were put into place in response to the Sandy Hook shooting (Hurka & Knill, 2020).

For instance, when purchasing a gun, there is a lack of universal background checks. Despite the fact that background checks are required for all gun purchases made through federally licensed firearms dealers, there are numerous loopholes in the system that allow criminals and other prohibited individuals to purchase firearms (Butkus et al., 2018). In fact, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, about two-thirds of federal firearms purchases (67%) are not subject to background checks, which implies that individuals who should not be able to purchase a firearm, such as convicted felons, domestic violence offenders, and the mentally ill, are often able to do so without any difficulty (Botty van den Bruele & Crandall, 2021).

Another loophole in gun ownership is the “Gun Show Loophole”: The Gun Show Loophole is a policy that allows licensed firearms dealers to sell firearms at gun shows without having to conduct background checks. This loophole has been repeatedly exploited by criminals and other prohibited individuals, who can buy firearms without going through a licensed dealer. There is also the “Firearm Transfers to Minors” loophole, which allows adults to transfer firearms to minors without a background check. Parents who want to give their children a gun as a gift have taken advantage of this loophole (Wintemute, 2015).

It is clear that a combination of mental health issues, access to firearms, substance abuse, and lax gun laws have all contributed to America’s high levels of gun violence. Individuals with mental health issues, for example, are more likely to be violent and commit suicide, and those with easy access to firearms are much more likely to commit homicide. Similarly, substance abuse is known to increase the likelihood of suicide and other violent behaviors, while lax gun laws make it easy for criminals to obtain firearms. All of these factors need to be considered when trying to reduce gun violence in the United States.

Botty van den Bruele, A., & Crandall, M. (2021). Scope of Firearm Injuries in the United States. In  Why We Are Losing the War on Gun Violence in the United States  (pp. 3-10). Springer, Cham.

Butkus, R., Doherty, R., Bornstein, S. S., & Health and Public Policy Committee of the American College of Physicians*. (2018). Reducing firearm injuries and deaths in the United States: a position paper from the American College of Physicians.  Annals of internal medicine ,  169 (10), 704-707.

Hurka, S., & Knill, C. (2020). Does regulation matter? A cross‐national analysis of the impact of gun policies on homicide and suicide rates.  Regulation & Governance ,  14 (4), 787-803.

Metzl, J. M., Piemonte, J., & McKay, T. (2021). Mental illness, mass shootings, and the future of psychiatric research into American gun violence.  Harvard review of psychiatry ,  29 (1), 81.

Metzl, J. M., Piemonte, J., & McKay, T. (2021). Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Future of Psychiatric Research into American Gun Violence.  Harvard Review of Psychiatry ,  29 (1), 81–89. https://doi.org/10.1097/hrp.0000000000000280

Santaella-Tenorio, J., Cerdá, M., Villaveces, A., & Galea, S. (2016). What Do We Know About the Association Between Firearm Legislation and Firearm-Related Injuries?  Epidemiologic Reviews ,  38 (1), 140–157. https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxv012

Skeem, J., & Mulvey, E. (2020). What role does serious mental illness play in mass shootings, and how should we address it?.  Criminology & Public Policy ,  19 (1), 85-108.

Swanson, J. W., Easter, M. M., Robertson, A. G., Swartz, M. S., Alanis-Hirsch, K., Moseley, D., … & Petrila, J. (2016). Gun violence, mental illness, and laws that prohibit gun possession: evidence from two Florida counties.  Health Affairs ,  35 (6), 1067-1075.

Werbick, M., Bari, I., Paichadze, N., & Hyder, A. A. (2021). Firearm violence: a neglected “Global Health” issue.  Globalization and health ,  17 (1), 1-5.

Wintemute, G. J. (2015). The epidemiology of firearm violence in the twenty-first century United States.  Annual review of public health ,  36 , 5-19.

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4 killed on train in Chicago-area appeared asleep before shootings, police say

Four people fatally shot on a commuter train in the Chicago area early Monday appeared to be attacked while asleep in their seats, police said.

The victims — whose names, ages, and genders have not been confirmed — appeared to be asleep and were seated apart from each other according to security footage, the Forest Park Police Department said.

A suspect has been taken into custody and a weapon was recovered, Forest Park Deputy Chief Chris Chin said at a news conference.

The motive remained unknown. The name of the person in custody was not released.

"This appears to be an isolated incident on this unfortunate day," Chin said. "It's a horrible situation."

The department got a 911 call around 5:27 a.m. about victims with gunshot wounds on Chicago Transit Authority train at the Blue Line station at 711 Desplaines Avenue, Forest Park, it s a id on Fa cebook .

Police found four people with gunshot wounds. Three were pronounced dead at the scene, and the fourth died at Loyola University Medical Center, police said.

All four victims were passengers, Chin said at the news conference.

The shooting took place on two train cars, Chin said at the news conference. The train was in motion when gunfire erupted, he said.

The suspect, whose description was informed by security video, was found on a Pink Line train, police said. NBC Chicago reported Chicago police found the suspect when officers noticed a passenger matching the shooter's description.

Forest Park police said in the update that investigators were also trying to track down a person they believed witnessed the attack.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) called the shooting a "heinous and egregious act of violence" that should never have happened on a public train.

"As soon as this matter was reported, CTA immediately deployed resources to assist the Forest Park Police in their investigation into the matter, including review of all possible security camera footage, which proved to be vital in aiding local enforcement," the CTA said.

The CTA said it will continue to work with local police to investigate the shooting.

"Surveillance video is vital in a lot of our investigations," Chin of Forest Park police said, "especially this one."

Forest Park is 10 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Breaking news reporter

Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

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Gun Violence Argumentative Essays Samples For Students

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Gun Violence And Gun Control Argumentative Essays Examples

Example of argumentative essay on paragraphs 4 and 5.

Gun violence in the U.S. is out of control. Incidents in US of gun violence in 2012 were horrible, widely publicized, and unprecedented. We will look at how to prevent such incidents in the future in the rest of the paper.

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Importance of gun laws in U.S. Politics. NRA’s stance on the matter (de-regulation). Recent successes: Concealed Carry in many states. The reaction from the other side on recent acts of gun violence in 2012 to restrict gun laws.

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Does America Need Tighter Gun Control Or Is The Problem Intrinsic To Society Argumentative Essay Examples

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• chicago violence

Chicago shootings: At least 31 shot, 5 fatally, in Labor Day weekend gun violence, police say

CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 31 people were shot, five fatally, in shootings across Chicago so far this Labor Day weekend, police said.

At least 31 shot, 5 fatally over Labor Day weekend in the city

At least 31 people were shot over the Labor Day weekend in Chicago.

Five people were killed in shootings throughout the city.

3 injured, 2 critically, in West Pullman shooting: Chicago police

Three men were injured, two critically, in a shooting on Chicago's South Side on Monday evening, police said.

Police said the shooting happened in the West Pullman neighborhood just before 5:30 p.m.

Officers responded to a local hospital for a call about people who had been shot in the 12300-block of South Emerald Avenue.

A 28-year-old man, shot multiple times in his body, was transported to Christ Hospital in critical condition.

A 23-year-old man, shot in his chest and buttocks, took himself to Roseland Hospital in critical condition.

A 26-year-old man, shot in his buttocks, took himself to Ingles Hospital in good condition.

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Woman shot to death inside moving car in Washington Park, police say

A woman was shot to death inside a vehicle on the city's South Side on Monday evening, police said.

Chicago police said the shooting happened in the Washington Park neighborhood's 200-block of East 57th Street just after 5 p.m.

A 35-year-old woman was inside a vehicle, headed eastbound on 57th Street, when someone standing near the street fired shots, striking her, police said.

Police said the victim was transported in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, where she later died.

There is no one in custody and Area One detectives are investigating.

Authorities did not immediately provide further information about the shooting.

Loop Starbucks struck by gunfire, Chicago police say

A Starbucks store in the Loop was hit by gunfire Monday morning, Chicago police said.

The shooting took place at about 2:40 a.m. in the 100-block of North Wabash Avenue.

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No one is in custody and Area Three detectives are investigating.

READ MORE | Loop Starbucks struck by gunfire, Chicago police say

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At the Democratic Convention, a Historic Nomination

What story did the democrats tell about kamala harris and will it be enough to win.

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

[BACKGROUND CHATTER]

I’m standing in a sea of people coming out of this vast convention. And people are holding signs, smiling. There’s confetti everywhere. There are balloons, white, red, and blue. And there’s a lot of excitement.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. And this is “The Daily” from inside the Democratic National Convention Hall, where Kamala Harris has just accepted her party’s nomination, becoming the first woman of color in US history to do so.

Today, the story this convention told about Harris and whether that story could be enough to win.

It’s Friday, August 23.

[SERENE MUSIC]

The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day. What shall our our legacy be? What will our children say? Let me in my heart, when my days are through, America, America, I gave my best to you.

On night one of the Democratic National Convention, the evening was really defined by this very emotional, quite bittersweet goodbye from President Biden.

And there’s nothing we cannot do when we do it together.

God bless you all. And may God protect our troops.

It was the closing of one chapter so that another could begin. It was Kamala Harris’s moment.

[UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC]

So right now, it’s 7:40. We are on the floor at the Democratic National Convention. It is a crazy party atmosphere, which is like a massive understatement.

Day two kicked off with delegates gathering on the convention floor, casting their votes in a kind of symbolic way to make Harris the party’s nominee.

This giant festival of lights, people in cowboy hats, people with blinking bracelets, people with Christmas lights wrapped around their hats, heads, shoulders, people wearing donkey hats. I mean, it’s very, very, very celebratory in here.

We need to see that we’re moving on. We are turning a chapter in America.

How do you feel right now?

Awesome, excitement, energized. Ready to win this election.

I love it. I love it. People are just excited, electrified, and they’re just loving it, and they’re happy.

This has been the most electrifying event I’ve ever attended in my life. It’s my first convention. But what a convention to come for, right? To make history right now, as we charge forward to November 5, to elect the first female Black president. I’m excited.

So with Harris now the nominee, a new campaign slogan appeared everywhere. And that was, “A new way forward.” But in a campaign that’s just four weeks old, it was really an open question what “a new way forward” actually meant.

We’re not going back!

We’re not going back! We’re not going back!

And then over the course of the week, as speaker after speaker took the stage, we started to get an answer. The story of forward would be told through the story of Kamala Harris herself. And the question hanging over the week was really whether that story could appeal to a broad majority of Americans, voters outside of the convention hall who will ultimately decide the election.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Astead, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

Again. The second time in a week. And I’m very excited for it.

So Astead, we had on the show on Monday to answer a question for us, that I think a lot of people have, which is, who is Kamala Harris? And you ended that conversation by saying that the Democratic Party also recognizes this reality, that for a lot of people, she is still this unknown quantity.

And that the party had a big task here at the convention this week, which was to find a way to finally tell her story. It does seem like they’ve tried to do that. Let’s walk through the case that they’re making for her. And what you’ve seen here in your reporting for your show, “The Run-Up.”

Yeah, I mean, I think that the Democrats have definitely laid out a case for her as a candidate, but also a story for her as a person. They have leaned into the different parts of her biography to really follow through on what, I think, is the best version of her campaign, which is a little bit for everybody. There is a story there about more moderate legislation, but pieces of progressive history. There’s different parts of her bio that speak to Black communities, immigrant communities.

Of course, the historic nature of her gender and the roles like that. And I really think it has followed through on what I expected for this week, which is that she seems to function politically as a mirror of some sort, where the party wants to position her as someone who basically, no matter what you’re looking for in terms of a vessel to beat Donald Trump, you can find it in this candidate.

Let’s dig into that more. Where did the convention start, that story?

Hello, Democrats!

Yeah, I think it really starts in her personal biography.

And I’m here tonight to tell you all about the Kamala Harris that I know.

They have told a story that she often tells about her being a first generation American.

Her mother moved here from India at 19.

And being a daughter of an immigrant mother who really raised two daughters in the Bay Area from working class roots. And that’s been a real thing that they’ve tried to own.

Kamala was not born into privilege. She had to work for what she’s got.

When she was young, she worked at McDonald’s.

They talk about her working at McDonald’s in college.

And she greeted every person without thousand watt smile and said, how can I help you?

I think it’s overall about trying to present this as someone who pulled himself up by bootstraps. It represents the American dream. And I think for Democrats, it really returns them back to the place they want to be. Democrats like thinking of themselves as a party who appeals to the diversity of America, both in racial ways, in gender ways, but also in class ways.

In Kamala Harris, we have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class.

And I think they used other parts of her identity, specifically thinking about being the first Black woman to accept a major party’s nomination.

We know folks are going to do everything they can to distort her truth.

And I think Michelle Obama’s speech, specifically, spoke to the power and anxiety that sometimes that identity can bring.

My husband and I sadly know a little something about this.

For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.

And I would also say that it was an implicit response to what Republicans and others have been trying to say, talking about Kamala Harris as a DEI hire, someone who was only in their position because of their identity. But the way that Michelle Obama framed it was that those identities have power.

I want to know. I want to know. Who’s going to tell him, who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?

Just because someone the first to be in a position, does not mean that is the only reason in the position. But it also doesn’t make those identities meaningless. The fact that she is a Black woman should be seen as a strength, not as a weakness.

Is there a risk to that, though? I mean, by openly talking about race, is there a risk that goes too far and begins to alienate voters outside the convention out in the world who they need to win in November.

I mean, there’s always a risk. But I don’t really think so. Democrats have had increasing trouble with Black voters. There’s been a downturn in Black vote share all the way dating back to 2012.

In Biden’s now suspended candidacy, that was one of the things driving his polling weaknesses was kind of tepid reception from Black voters. A pitch to them is something that is a upside of the Kamala Harris campaign. And the hope that they could consolidate that community is where any Democratic nominee needs to be as a baseline.

We both got our start as young lawyers, helping children who were abused and neglected.

One thing I noticed that came up a lot during the speeches was her background as a prosecutor. How did the party present that part of her biography?

As a prosecutor, Kamala stood up for children who had been victims of sexual abuse.

She put rapists, child molesters, and murderers behind bars.

They talk about it in the way that I think fuels what they want to say is the reason she can take on Trump, that this is someone who has stood up to bullies before, who’s not going to be intimidated easily —

And Kamala is as tough as it comes.

— who’s tough, and who doesn’t shirk away from a challenge.

And she knows the best way to deal with a coward is to take him head on, because we all know cowards are weak. And Kamala Harris can smell weakness.

I think all of that adds up to say, you can trust this person to go up against Donald Trump. You can trust this person to go up against the Republican Party, because she’s not someone who is scared.

She never runs from a fight.

A woman, a fierce woman for the people.

But then, of course, we heard about another side of Kamala Harris, a more personal side.

Yeah, and I think this is the part of Kamala Harris where I think was kind of most missing in the presidential run. Frankly, it’s the part that she keeps most private. She is a warm family member and friend.

Hello to my big, beautiful blended family up there.

And I think what the speech from her husband did was really show and lay that out.

I got married, became a dad to Cole and Ella. Unfortunately, went through a divorce, but eventually started worrying about how I would make it all work. And that’s when something unexpected happened, I ended up with Kamala Harris’s phone number.

He talks about the kind of awkwardness of their first interaction.

I got Kamala’s voicemail, and I just started rambling. “Hey, it’s Doug.”

And I think you have a real kind of sense of their genuine connection to one another.

By the way, Kamala saved that voicemail. And she makes me listen to it on every anniversary.

Like, yes, this is someone who is tough, who is taking on corporations and cartels and all of that stuff by day. But this is someone who also makes a point to cook Sunday dinner for family every week.

And she makes a mean brisket for Passover.

And makes sure to really go close to his kids and is very close with her family.

That’s Kamala. She’s always been there for our children. And I know she’ll always be there for yours, too.

Going back to the last time the Democratic Party nominated a woman, Hillary Clinton, she had presented herself in a very different way. She kind of ran away from that stuff. She was saying, I don’t bake cookies, that’s not what I do. I’m kind of out there with the men, fighting.

And this convention and this candidate, Harris, is very different. She’s a newer generation. And she can do her career and bake cookies. Those things are not in conflict. This is a different type of woman leader.

This week we talked to Senator Elizabeth Warren on “The Run-Up,” and one of the things that she mentioned was she feels that there’s been a big change from 2016, even 2020 to now. Not just the amount of women in public office, but she said they don’t have to choose between sides of themselves. And I think that’s what diversity means.

Of course, Kamala Harris can be a tough politician and also bake cookies. Hillary Clinton did that, too. It was just that she was told that was not the way that she had to present herself. What Kamala Harris is benefiting from is there’s a greater space and ability to choose multiple things at once. And so particularly if others are going to talk more directly about gender or race or other things, that kind of frees her from having the burden of doing that herself.

And in fact, Hillary Clinton, herself, did speak, of course, on day one. She talked about that glass ceiling in the history that has led to now, including her own experience in 2016.

Yeah, I thought the Hillary Clinton speech was really powerful. I think a lot of the speakers put this moment in historical context, both politically and personally.

My mother, Dorothy, was born right here in Chicago before women had the right to vote. That changed 104 years ago yesterday. And since that day, every generation has carried the torch forward. In 1972, a fearless Black congresswoman named Shirley Chisholm —

— she ran for president. In 1984, I brought my daughter to see Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated for vice president. And then there was 2016, when it was the honor of my life to accept our party’s nomination for president.

The last time I was here in my hometown was to memorialize my mother, the woman who showed me the power of my own voice. My mother volunteered at the local school.

I’m the proud granddaughter of a housekeeper, Sarah Daisy, who raised her three children in a one-bedroom apartment. It was her dream to work in government, to help people.

My grandmother, the woman who helped raise me as a child, a little old white lady born in a tiny town called Peru, Kansas.

I want to talk now about somebody who’s not with us tonight. Tessie Prevost Williams was born in New Orleans not long after the Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. That was in 1954, same year I was born. Parents pulled their kids out of the school.

There was a way that I think the candidacy and the person was placed in a long legacy, both about gender identity and racial identity that kind of teed up this Thursday as a culminating moment, both politically and I think, in a broader historical context.

Together, we put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling. And you know what? On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris raising her hand and taking the oath of office as our 47th president of the United States!

I wish my mother and Kamala’s mother could see us. They would say, keep going. Shirley and Jerry would say, keep going!

I think you can do a lot to set up a candidate to be in a good position. All of this stuff adds up to some part of the puzzle, but the biggest piece is the candidate themself. At the end of the day, they have to close the deal. And I think this moment is her chance to tell her own story in a way that sometimes she has not decided to. And that’s still what this whole convention success and failure will ride on.

We’re going to watch tonight. We’re going to watch with our colleague, Reid Epstein. And you are going to have a great episode of “The Run-Up” on Friday. We will all be tuning in.

Thank you. I appreciate you doing this, Sabrina.

Really thanks a lot, Astead.

Are you a delegate?

Sorry, we caught you mid French fry eating. What’s your feeling about Kamala and what her story has been? Are you getting to know her this week? Are there things you’ve learned about her this week?

Yeah, I’m learning more and more as we go along. The more and more I learn about her, the more I’m impressed with her. I mean, she worked at McDonald’s when she was going to college to try to pay her way through.

Her very small beginnings. Not a trust fund baby type of thing. I relate to that. Like, I was on food stamps this year. So it’s like if she can do it with that background, it gives everybody hope.

Hillary was my girl. When Hillary ran, I championed her as well. But I didn’t feel this way as I feel about Harris. I’m like, do I want to run for office? If she can do it, I can. She looks just like me, right? She represents, she works at McDonald’s. She paid for every. It’s relatable. And that’s what everybody needs.

We’re going to break that glass ceiling. I’m getting teary, teary in my eyes. And it just means so much to be inclusive.

[WHIMSICAL MUSIC]

What does it mean to you that Kamala Harris is a woman? What does it mean to you that she’s a Black woman?

To have a Black woman become the president of the United States, and for her to turn the world upside down in 30 days, to know that I’m in the midst of this miraculous history is phenomenal.

One delegate who really stood out to us was Beverly Hatcher, a 76-year-old Black woman from Texas.

I was raised by a wonderful Baptist mama. I just lost her. But I am who I am because of my mother. We were always pushed to do whatever we wanted to do. I’ll never forget. I wanted to be a majorette. I taught myself, because we had no money for, what is it called, lessons

And a majorette is like the baton twirler, right?

Yes. And when I did finally try out in my 11th grade, I won right off. And my classmates, who were predominantly white, as years have gone by, have told me at class reunions and stuff, Beverly, the sleepy town of Wellington woke up.

Oh, my god, we got a Black girl getting ready to be the head majorette. But it happened because I had the drive and the will. My mother and my family stood behind me, and didn’t miss a parade, or a football game, or a basketball game.

And you see that in Harris?

Beverly, what would your mom say if she saw this?

My sisters have been telling me every day how proud my mom is. And I’m just happy. I’m happy to make her happy. Yeah.

We women, who have had mothers like Kamala, like Michelle, I remember Hillary’s mother, we women value their strength and their wisdom. And we’re just glad that they gave us a legacy to pass it on.

Thank you very much.

We’ll be right back.

Reid, hello.

OK. Kamala Harris just wrapped up her acceptance speech. Before we talk about what she said and the case she presented, tell us how her campaign was thinking about the stakes of this moment.

Sabrina, this evening was one of two opportunities, along with the debate next month, for her to speak to tens of millions of people at once. And so for that, the stakes were really high.

Her goal was to present herself as a serious person and a serious candidate, who was not the candidate who flamed out in 2019 or the unsteady vice president from the beginning of her term. She had to show that she had the gravitas to be the commander in chief, the political aptitude to reach out to the middle, and also to progressives in her party all at the same time.

A very tall order. Tell us how she went about doing that.

Good evening, everyone. Good evening.

Well, she started talking around 9:30 Chicago time to a packed United Center with 14,000 or 15,000 people, many, many wearing all white, the color of the suffragettes, a color that makes a statement just by wearing it. And when Harris took the stage —

— they erupted in a cheer that forced her for a couple of minutes to wait before she could start talking.

Thank you. OK, let’s get to business. Let’s get to business. All right.

And what did she finally say once she started talking?

She told the story of her life.

The path that led me here in recent weeks was, no doubt, unexpected. But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys.

My mother, our mother, Shyamala Harris, had one of her own. And I miss her every day, and especially right now.

She talked about the influence of her mother, who raised her and her sister.

And she also taught us, “And never do anything half-assed.” And that is a direct quote. [LAUGHS]

She spoke about her family’s humble beginnings in Oakland.

Before she could finally afford to buy a home, she rented a small apartment in the East Bay.

Then she started talking about her career as a prosecutor.

In the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words.

She brought back one of the lines that she used in her 2020 campaign about how when she stood up in a courtroom, she began with the same words.

Kamala Harris for the people.

And she said she would bring that same philosophy to the White House, that she was not working for specific individuals, but for the people at large.

And so on behalf of the people —

Eventually she did a bigger wind up to formally accepting the nomination.

— on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks —

And listed the people on whose behalf she did so.

— on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth —

It was really a kind of a feat of speech writing to build up to this big emotional moment.

— I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.

And what did you make of that, how she was doing that?

It was building up this speech to be a serious political document and present her as a serious figure in this moment. And so she still has to prove to people that she is capable of being the commander in chief and running the country.

And how does she try to prove that she’s capable of being a commander in chief?

What she did was try to draw the distinction between herself and Donald Trump.

In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.

And she warns that Trump would not have guardrails on him if he were elected to a second term.

Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.

And how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had, himself.

The speech was very clear-eyed about the stakes of the election.

They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself.

There was a whole section in the middle of the speech where she ticked through, one by one, a whole series of warnings about things that Trump would do to the country if he were back in the White House.

Get this, he plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions.

Simply put, they are out of their minds.

What else stuck out to you?

It was remarkable, the section of the speech where she talked about Gaza.

President Biden and I are working around the clock, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done.

She did not veer too far to the left.

I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself.

She managed to say things that would be appealing to both sides.

President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.

It was a remarkable moment to hear the arena erupt at the end of that section, to hear her support for both the Israelis and the Palestinians reveal that kind of enthusiasm, after the party has been really ripped apart for months about how to handle the situation.

Fellow Americans, I love our country with all my heart.

She ended this speech with a paean to patriotism.

We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world.

She dove headlong into the American exceptionalism argument that is native to Republicans and to older generations of politicians, like Joe Biden.

It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done. Guided by optimism and faith to fight for this country we love. To fight —

But is not something you always hear from younger Democrats, who are a little less comfortable with some of the flag waving.

Let’s vote for it. And together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told. Thank you. God bless you and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you all.

She seemed to really be taking aim at this criticism of her, which is that she’s this radical California liberal and she can’t be trusted with the keys to the country.

I mean, that was one of the tasks that she had tonight, was to make the argument, particularly to voters in the middle, the suburban voters that used to vote for Republicans, but have been repelled by Trump and driven to Democrats in the last several years, that they can vote for her without worrying that she’s some kind of Bernie Sanders acolyte.

And some of that is based on the way she ran her last presidential campaign. Some of it, frankly, is because she’s a Black woman from California. And that the voters who will determine this election are voters in less diverse states, for the most part.

So Reid stepping back here, it feels worth remembering just where we were at the end of the Republican National Convention that was just over a month ago. Things couldn’t have felt more different. The GOP was on top of the world, while the Democrats were in disarray over Biden’s refusal to leave the race.

And now here we are. And it feels like things couldn’t be better for the Democrats. At least that’s the feeling I’m having coming out of this convention.

I mean, the whole race has turned upside down from where it was when we left Milwaukee. And Democrats are upbeat. They are confident. It is a party that is remarkably united behind their candidate.

But you have to remember, this election will be very close. It is, indeed, a game of inches in the key battleground states. And what she was trying to do was to present herself as someone who can be trusted as commander in chief to win over the tiny slices of the electorate that will determine the winner in places like Wisconsin, and Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.

And those are the states that will determine the election. And they have made a calculated decision that those voters needed to see her as a commander in chief, something they had not seen from her before. And we will see in the coming days and weeks whether she’s accomplished that in a way that brings enough of those people on board for her to win a term as president.

Reid, thank you.

Thank you, Sabrina. [WHIMSICAL MUSIC]

Here’s what else you should know today. On Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed Arizona Republicans, for now, to impose tougher voting requirements, including a new rule that people registering to vote there before the coming election must show proof of citizenship.

As a result, Arizonans newly registering to vote for this year’s presidential election must provide copies of one of several documents, such as a birth certificate or a passport, in order to prove that they are US citizens. Democrats have denounced the new rule as an attempt to prevent legal immigrants from voting.

And US Health officials have approved the latest slate of annual COVID vaccines, clearing the way for Americans six months and older to receive updated shots in the coming days. The approvals come amid a prolonged surge of COVID infections, which have risen all summer.

Remember to catch a new episode of “The Interview” right here tomorrow. This week, Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Jenna Ortega, the star of the Netflix series “Wednesday,” and the new “Bettlejuice” sequel, about her head-spinning success over the past few years.

One day I just I woke up in somebody else’s shoes. I felt like I had entered somebody else’s life. And I didn’t know how to get back to mine.

Today’s episode was produced by Lynsea Garrison, Rob Szypko, Jessica Cheung, Asthaa Chaturvedi, and Shannon Lin. It was edited by Rachel Quester, contains original music by Rowan Niemisto, Dan Powell, Diane Wong, and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

[THEME MUSIC]

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you on Monday.

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Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise

Featuring Astead W. Herndon and Reid J. Epstein

Produced by Lynsea Garrison Rob Szypko Jessica Cheung Asthaa Chaturvedi and Shannon Lin

Edited by Rachel Quester

Original music by Rowan Niemisto Marion Lozano Dan Powell and Diane Wong

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow ‘The Daily’ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadio

Last night, at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination, becoming the first woman of color in U.S. history to do so.

Astead W. Herndon and Reid J. Epstein, who cover politics for The Times, discuss the story this convention told about Ms. Harris — and whether that story could be enough to win the presidential election.

On today’s episode

Astead W. Herndon , a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “ The Run-Up ” for The New York Times.

Reid J. Epstein , who covers politics for The New York Times.

Background reading

Kamala Harris promised to chart a “new way forward” as she accepted the nomination.

“The Run-Up”: It’s her party now. What’s different?

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Michael Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson, Nina Lassam and Nick Pitman.

Astead W. Herndon is a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up.” More about Astead W. Herndon

Reid J. Epstein covers campaigns and elections from Washington. Before joining The Times in 2019, he worked at The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Newsday and The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. More about Reid J. Epstein

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DNC 2024 Day 4 live updates: Harris says she will 'fight for America's future'

Harris set her agenda in a rousing speech at the DNC.

The moment that millions around the country have been waiting for took place Thursday at the Democratic National Convention as Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the nomination for the presidency.

Harris took the stage to a roaring standing ovation and soon set her agenda in a rousing speech.

Whether it was immigration, reproductive rights or foreign security, the vice president showcased a sharp contrast in policies to former President Donald Trump.

Harris's speech was preceded by a who's who of leaders from both sides of the aisle who all made the case that she is the best person to be the nation's leader.

Photos: 2024 Democratic National Convention

Latest headlines:

• Aug 22, 2024, 11:15 PM EDT 'America let us show each other and the world who we are'
• Aug 22, 2024, 11:09 PM EDT Harris calls for cease-fire deal, says Israel must be able to defend itself
• Aug 22, 2024, 11:05 PM EDT Harris vows to sign border bill that Trump derailed
• Aug 22, 2024, 11:41 PM EDT Harris talking about one of her strongest issues: reproductive rights
• Aug 22, 2024, 10:55 PM EDT Harris pivots to attack on Trump: 'Unserious man' with 'serious' consequences

Obama reacts to Harris' DNC speech

Former President Barack Obama reacted to Kamala Harris’ DNC speech and shared a photo of the vice president on stage.

Harris "showed the world what I have known to be true. She is ready on day one to be President and represents the best of America. Let’s get to work," Obama posted on X .

Harris correct that Trump’s tariff proposal would act like a tax, but her estimated effects outpace independent analyses

Harris said Trump “intends to enact what in effect is a national sales tax —call it a Trump tax — that would raise prices on middle class families by almost $4,000 a year."

Trump has said that he would propose a 10% tariff on all non-domestic goods sold in the U.S. While tariffs are levied separately from taxes, economists say that much of their impact would be passed along to consumers, making them analogous to a tax.

Harris’ figure about how much it will cost families is higher than current estimates.

The American Action Forum, a center-right think tank, has projected additional costs per household of $1,700 to $2,350 annually. The Peterson Institute of International Economics, another Washington, D.C.-based think tank, projected that such tariffs would cost a middle-income household about $1,700 extra each year.

—PolitiFact's Louis Jacobson and Grace Abels

Excitement, but some disappointment

Harris jazzed up the crowd, but some attendees were sad about one notable no show.

“I’m so sad about Beyonce,” one attendee said.

Fact-checking Harris’ abortion attacks on Trump

Harris said, “As a part of his agenda, [Trump] and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress. And get this … He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women's miscarriages and abortions.”

Most of the language in Harris’ claim stems from the policies in Project 2025. But it’s not all accurate. Project 2025 doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access. In addition, what’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda doesn't line up with either Harris’ description or Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 suggests that the Department of Health and Human Services Department should "return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care."

The manual recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion, which is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63% of abortions in 2023. (In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.)

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting limits on its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven and requiring that it be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. It also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act, which bans the mailing of "obscene" materials, with respect to mifepristone. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders; would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds; and calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

As for how this all aligns with Trump's views, the former president recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. He said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court "approved" it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

—PolitiFact’s Samantha Putterman and Aaron Sharockman

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Editorials | Editorial: Is a violent Venezuelan gang taking…

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Editorials | Editorial: Is a violent Venezuelan gang taking over Aurora?

There is no conspiracy to cover up activity of the tren de aragua gang in colorado.

Of course not.

The conservative and liberal mayors of Aurora and Denver have even come together to dispel the sensationalized reports of rampant gun violence.

There also is no vast conspiracy to cover up the gang activity of Tren de Aragua , an international criminal organization that is run by Venezuelan nationals across South America and is behind the criminal organization of recent arrivals in America who likely arrived illegally or using the asylum system.

The Denver Post and other mainstream news outlets have covered the emergence of this gang in America, but also have maintained perspective on the size, threat and activities of the gang, unlike some who are using incidents in Aurora and Denver to fuel fear of other Venezuelans and asylum seekers. Others, like the owners of an apartment beset with crime in Aurora, are using the gang as a scapegoat for the unsanitary, unsafe and unhealthy conditions of their apartments that were condemned by the city this month.

Aurora is an extremely diverse city of about 400,000 people. It has always had some gang activity – same with Denver, Commerce City, Arvada, Westminster, and Lakewood. The addition of the Tren de Aragua gang to the mix is a dangerous complication, but not a cause for panic, fleeing the city, or calling 911 without cause.

The videos of men armed with semi-automatic long guns and pistols – in the hallway of an apartment complex and during a violent armed burglary at a Denver jewelry store — are unnerving. But they’d be unnerving regardless of the race or nationality or immigrant status of the wielders.

We understand the frustration of Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky. It is completely unacceptable to have apartment complexes where residents are unsafe because of rampant gang activity. She is right to call attention to the issue, just as we have done for years with gangs in Aurora and youth violence in general.

Now is the time for elected officials and law enforcement to come together and eliminate organized crime that often preys upon the most vulnerable people in our communities including small-business owners, immigrants, and low-income families.

Last year, Aurora launched the Standing Against Violence Every Day , or SAVE, program in an effort to keep young people – between the ages of 14 and 25 – from committing crimes, especially acts of violence. It’s estimated 1% of the population in Aurora was involved in 34% of the city’s homicides during a 15-month span.

Four men were arrested and charged with crimes related to the violent robbery of Joyeria El Ruby in Denver in June. At least one of those men was believed to be a member of Tren de Aragua, and was captured in Texas, a sign federal officials and local law enforcement are working hand in hand to shut down this gang.

Homeland Security Investigations regional spokeswoman Alethea Smock, told The Denver Post this month that the gang was an emerging threat in Denver.

But as Aurora’s Republican Mayor Mike Coffman and Denver’s Democratic Mayor Mike Johnston told 9News Thursday night in a joint interview, their cities are still safe.

The danger of blowing things out of proportion, however, is very real.

The vast majority of Venezuelan refugees and migrants from other South American countries have come to America for a chance at freedom and to escape the violence in their home countries. We cannot demonize them because a small proportion of the thousands of recent arrivals have banded together to commit crimes.

Let’s catch the criminals, deport them, and secure our southern border so we can ensure bad eggs aren’t getting in with the good people seeking work permits, liberty and a better life for their children.

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