(Publish from Houston Texas USA)
(Writer: Kainat Rajput)
The United States continues to grapple with a gun violence epidemic that remains an outlier among developed nations. While the frequency of high-profile mass shootings may fluctuate, the overall rate of gun-related deaths remains tragically high, driving down life expectancy and inflicting a profound societal cost. This paradox—a decline in mass shootings set against a persistently high rate of gun deaths—formed the central theme of a recent national press briefing hosted by American Community Media (ACoM).
Moderated by ACoM Health Editor Sunita Sohrabji, the briefing, titled “Can the US Gain Ground on Mass Shootings and Gun Violence?”, brought together a panel of leading experts and advocates. The discussion focused on the complex factors driving gun violence, the necessary policy interventions at the federal level, and the successful community-based strategies that offer a path forward. Keynote speakers included Dr. Ragy Girgis, Director of The Center of Prevention and Evaluation (COPE) at Columbia University; Sarah Lerner, co-founder of Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence; and Dr. Daniel Webster, the Bloomberg Professor of American Health at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
The Human Cost and the Educator’s Voice
For many Americans, the issue of gun violence is not an abstract policy debate but a lived trauma. High school teacher Sarah Lerner provided a powerful, firsthand account of this reality. As a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, she was on campus during the devastating 2018 mass shooting that claimed 17 lives. Her testimony underscored the immediate, chaotic fear and the lasting emotional scars left on students, educators, and the community.
Lerner’s experience fuelled her advocacy, leading her to co-found Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence. The organization aims to amplify the voices of educators in the gun violence prevention movement, arguing that those who spend their days in classrooms are uniquely positioned to understand the need for change. While school shootings capture national headlines, Lerner emphasized that they represent only a fraction of the broader gun violence crisis. “We must not let the focus on school shootings distract from the daily, systemic violence that plagues our cities and communities,” she stated.
A core tenet of her advocacy is the push for common-sense gun laws, including universal background checks and secure gun storage requirements. She also took a firm stance against proposals to arm teachers, calling it an “outrageous suggestion” that would only introduce more weapons and danger into an already volatile environment. For Lerner, the solution lies not in militarizing schools but in enacting policies that prevent firearms from falling into the wrong hands in the first place.
Debunking the Mental Health Myth
A persistent and often misleading narrative following mass shootings is the immediate focus on the perpetrator’s mental health. Dr. Ragy Girgis, a psychiatrist and director of the Columbia Mass Murder Database (CMDD), presented research that directly challenges this public perception. His work aims to provide an evidence-based understanding of the factors motivating mass violence, separating fact from politically charged fiction.
Dr. Girgis’s research, based on an extensive review of mass murder incidents, helps to dispel the myth that severe psychiatric illness is a major predictor of mass shootings. The findings from the CMDD indicate that severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, is present in only a small percentage of mass murderers—approximately 11% of all mass murderers and a mere 8% of mass shooters.
This suggests that focusing solely on mental health as the primary cause is not only inaccurate but also counterproductive. It stigmatizes individuals with mental illness, who are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, and it diverts attention from more effective, evidence-based prevention strategies. Dr. Girgis argued that while mental health support is crucial for overall public well-being, it is not the silver bullet for the gun violence crisis. The true focus, he concluded, must be on the means of violence: the easy access to lethal firearms.
Evidence-Based Policy and Community Solutions
The final speaker, Dr. Daniel Webster, a leading authority on gun violence policy from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, shifted the discussion to actionable, evidence-based solutions. Dr. Webster framed gun violence as a public health epidemic, arguing that it requires a public health approach focused on prevention, data, and policy intervention.
Dr. Webster highlighted several key policy solutions that have been shown to reduce firearm deaths:
⦁ Firearm Purchaser Licensing:
⦁ Description: Requires prospective gun buyers to obtain a license from law enforcement, often involving a safety course and fingerprinting.
⦁ Evidence of Effectiveness: Associated with significant reductions in gun homicides and suicides.
⦁ Safe and Secure Gun Storage:
⦁ Description: Laws requiring firearms to be stored unloaded and locked, particularly in homes with children or prohibited persons.
⦁ Evidence of Effectiveness: Reduces accidental shootings and gun suicides.
⦁ Firearm Removal Laws (Red Flag Laws):
⦁ Description: Allows temporary removal of firearms from individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others by a court.
⦁ Evidence of Effectiveness: Effective in preventing suicides and other acts of violence.
⦁ Regulating the Public Carry of Firearms:
⦁ Description: Policies that restrict the carrying of concealed or open firearms in public spaces.
⦁ Evidence of Effectiveness: Associated with lower rates of violent crime and gun homicides.
Beyond federal and state policy, Dr. Webster stressed the critical role of successful community initiatives at the local level, citing examples from Baltimore and New York. These initiatives often employ a focused, public health model:
⦁ Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIPs): These programs identify violently injured patients and connect them with social services, mental health care, and mentorship to interrupt the cycle of violence.
⦁ Group Violence Reduction Strategies (GVRS): Focused deterrence programs that target small groups responsible for the majority of a city’s gun violence, offering them a choice between support services and swift, certain law enforcement action.
These local efforts, which treat violence as a disease to be interrupted and prevented, have demonstrated success in reducing non-fatal shootings and homicides in high-risk communities.
Conclusion: A Path to Gaining Ground
The ACoM press briefing made clear that gaining ground on mass shootings and gun violence requires a multi-pronged, evidence-based strategy. It demands a shift away from simplistic, often misleading narratives—such as the overemphasis on mental illness—and a renewed commitment to proven policy and community interventions.
From the moral clarity of educators like Sarah Lerner, to the scientific rigor of researchers like Dr. Ragy Girgis, and the policy expertise of Dr. Daniel Webster, the message was consistent: the crisis is solvable. By implementing common-sense gun safety laws at the state and federal levels, and by investing in targeted, public health-focused community programs, the United States can begin to close the gap with its peer nations and finally treat gun violence as the preventable public health epidemic that it is.
