Gun Violence News
Friday night lights under fire: High school football games are being blitzed by gun violence
Facing Pushback From Both Parties, New Mexico Governor Scales Back Firearms Order
Armed suspect causes second lockdown
More than 25,000 people killed in gun violence so far in 2023
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Sandy Hook Promise is a national nonprofit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Based in Newtown, Connecticut, our intent is to honor all victims of gun violence by turning our tragedy into a moment of transformation. By empowering youth to “know the signs” and uniting all people who value the protection of children, we can take meaningful actions in schools, homes, and communities to prevent gun violence and stop the tragic loss of life.
Gun violence touches every town in America. For too long, life-saving laws have been thwarted by the gun lobby and by leaders who refuse to take common-sense steps that will save lives. But something is changing. Nearly 10 million mayors, moms, teachers, survivors, gun owners, students, and everyday Americans have come together to make their own communities safer. Everytown starts with you, and it starts in your neighborhood. By introducing evidence-based solutions in every town, we can end gun violence.
A problem with so many root causes, requires us to address it from all angles. Brady therefore emphasizes education, litigation, and legislation to ensure that every community is safe, not only from mass shootings, but also from the daily toll of gun homicide, domestic violence, suicide, unintentional shootings, and police violence that plagues so many communities.
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Lawmakers can learn lessons from auto safety. To start, they can put in effect more rigorous requirements for owning firearms. “For the most part, it is much easier to be a legal gun owner in America than it is to be a legal driver,” says David Hemenway, director of the Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Researchers are also finding links between right-to-carry laws – which require governments to issue concealed - carry permits to citizens who meet certain requirements–and spikes in firearms crime. Another measure that has attracted lawmakers’ attention is extreme-risk protection orders, also known as gun-violence restraining orders. These allow family members or law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily bar an at-risk person from buying firearms. Evidence suggests that these orders save lives. A 2017 study in Law and Contemporary Problems estimated that in Connecticut, every 10 to 20 gun seizures averted a suicide.
Doctors can play a key role in educating families about gun safety, particularly when it comes to keeping guns out of the hands of young children. Studies show that some 3-year-olds are strong enough to shoot a gun. By the time they reach school age, about 75% can fire a weapon. As a result, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that pediatricians start asking about firearms in the home when children are 3 years old and curious about the world – and objects – around them.
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Recommended Media
This documentary frames gun violence as both a disaster and a public health issue through the eyes of its victims. It addresses the critical issue of gun violence prevention by moving the conversation away from the polarizing extremes that have long dominated the debate and lifting up the voice and experiences of those who seek common ground and a new way forward.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, The Roku Channel
Under the Gun examines the events and people who have kept the gun debate fierce and the progress slow, even as gun deaths and mass shootings continue to increase. Through the lens of families impacted by the mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora, Isla Vista and Tucson, as well as those who experience daily gun violence in Chicago, the documentary looks at why politicians are finding it difficult to act and what is being done at the state and local levels. The film is executive produced and narrated by Katie Couric and directed by Stephanie Soechtig.
Where to Watch: The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime
Every year, almost 40,000 people are killed by guns in America. Each shooting devastates and forever changes the victim’s family and friends. The new feature documentary, Behind the Bullet, explores a side of gun violence that’s rarely talked about- the impact a shooting has on the shooter. The film answers the question, what does shooting and killing someone do to a person whose intentions are good.
Each subject in the film tells the story of how the pull of a trigger, changed them emotionally, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. The complexity of each scenario plays out as they describe the conflicting emotions and moral injury that comes after a self-defense shooting, an accidental shooting or an unintentional shooting.
Where to Watch: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Vudu
