U.S. News & World Report: Gun violence is a public health crisis
The key to reducing firearm violence begins with treating it like a public health epidemic.
Gun violence is a public health crisis. According to the American Public Health Association, last year gun violence took the lives of almost 33,000 Americans. Another 85,000 Americans sustained injuries from guns, many of them life-shattering. The price tag for gun violence was $229 billion last year for health care, law enforcement, insurance, employment and other costs.
While mass shootings like Sandy Hook Elementary School, Orlando, Virginia Tech and Fort Hood shake the national consciousness and give rise to calls for gun reform measures, most deaths and injuries from gun violence involve fewer than four victims. It happens in our homes, on street corners, at work and at play.
Faculty Referenced by this Article
Dr. Ron Andersen is the Wasserman Professor Emeritus in the UCLA Departments of Health Policy and Management.
EMPH Academic Program Director with expertise in healthcare marketing, finance, and reproductive health policy, teaching in the EMPH, MPH, MHA program
Professor of Community Health Sciences & Health Policy and Management, and Associate Dean for Research
Dr. Michelle S. Keller is a health services researcher whose research focuses on the use and prescribing of high-risk medications.
Nationally recognized health services researcher and sociomedical scientist with 25+ years' experience in effectiveness and implementation research.
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