Beatrice Dietz

Professor Moran

October 28th 2022

Public Health Policy PUBH-250-01C

Gun Violence: A Public Health Issue

According to the American Public Health Association “ Gun violence is the leading cause

of premature deaths in the U.S.” Premature death is when someone dies at an age that falls

before the average age of death in a certain population. From the information provided on the

American Public Health Association website, “Guns kill more than 38,000 people and cause

nearly 85,000 injuries each year.” Anyone can be a victim of gun violence.

The article that I chose to summarize on this topic is published in the Tulane University

School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and titled Gun Violence as a Public Health

Issue. Gun violence has been shown to have a severe effect on many factors in society; these can

include employer costs, decreased quality of life, issues with insurance claim processing, PTSD

and mental health, medicare and healthcare costs that can include transportation to emergency

help, social contagion, wage loss and in devastating cases death.

First this article discusses the recent school shooting in Texas at Robb Elementary

School. This shooting killed 19 children and 2 adults, as well as injuring 17 other people. The

increase in gun violence incidents are calling people to study these events as a public health

epidemic. The article then dives into some statistics. These stats include information like the year

2020 had the highest incident rate of gun violence in recent years. The article also mentions how
African Americans are disproportionately affected by gun violence. The Tulane piece also cites

the American Public Health Association, saying that on average gun violence costs the United

States 280 billion dollars each year. The statistics then show how gun violence correlates to

schools. The article shows that in the U.S. the leading cause of death in children and teens is

associated with guns. One in every ten gun deaths are people under the age of 20. Between

September 21st 2021 and August 11th 2022 there have been 170 school shootings in America.

Next this piece moves to how there are barriers to gun violence research in the realm of

public health. These barriers include many things such as the Dickey Amendment. This

amendment banned the use of government funding for the advocacy of gun control. Medical

organizations are trying to get the barriers for the issue removed. In 2016 over 140 organizations

called action to congress to end the restriction of gun violence research.

A professor at Tulane University describes this as a public health issue. Dr. Maeve

Wallace states that “The ability to see gun violence as a result of societal oppression and all these

larger forces at play, not just someone who has criminal behavior”. This professor states that gun

violence is due to structural racism, classism and sexism.”

The Tulane article states that for gun violence to be viewed more seriously as a public

health issue there needs to be more research to understand underlying causes and assess policy

responses. The article recommends steps to creating better policy starting with gathering more

accurate data, support increased funding for gun violence research, and put in place effective

programs such as suicide prevention programs, and violence interuption programs.

 Citations

Gun violence as a public health issue. Online Public Health & Healthcare Administration
Degrees. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from
https://publichealth.tulane.edu/blog/gun-violence-as-a-public-health-issue/

Gun violence. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from

https://apha.org/Topics-and-Issues/Gun-Violence