Speaker: Jon T. Macy, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana
University School of Public Health, Bloomington
Introduced By: Marty Meisenheimer
Attendance: NESC: 54, Zoom: 42
Guest(s): Fred Green, Greg Harker, Jim Souers,
Scribe: Alan Schmidt, PhD
Editor: Ed Nitka
View a recording of today’s Zoom presentation at:
Today's Program 011524
Dr. John T. Macy presented data and science for the prevention of gun violence with a list of possible solutions. It was not a political talk. With it being the Dr. Martin Luthor King, Jr. holiday, a quote from King is, “It’s not the violence of the few that scares me, it’s the silence of the many.” In the US there are 4 gun violence deaths per 100,000 whereas 22 peer countries have 0.25 gun violence deaths per 100,000. States that relax gun carry laws, as Indiana did two years ago, leads to bad outcomes with violent crimes up.
For Macy’s research, they collected beliefs about safe storage from gun owners as a first step toward intervention design. Easy access to firearms is a main driver of gun violence. Creative solutions to ensure firearms are stored safely are needed. Availability of firearms deserves more study as a contributing factor to mass shootings in the US. Households with higher levels of gun ownership have higher rates of firearm related injuries and fatalities.
There were 48,000 firearms-related deaths in the US in 2022. More than 50% of the deaths are suicides; rural older white men are typical. Poverty, despair, and the opioid epidemic have created a toxic soup contributing to gun violence. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children, 1 in 19. A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used to kill or injure in a domestic homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense. More research funding is needed. Federal funding per death was $3,000 for cancer, $1750 for heart disease, and only about $100 for
gun violence.
Solutions:
Keep guns out of the wrong hands (background checks)
Keep communities safe (require permits to carry)
Keep guns out of schools (prohibit guns on campus)
Be a responsible gun owner (secure/safe storage)
Hold the gun industry accountable (repeal gun industry immunity)
Prohibit assault weapons & dangerous hardware (prohibit high-capacity magazines)
Subsidizing the cost of safe storage devices might be an effective strategy
