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Changing the Conversation: America’s Gun Violence Epidemic

Changing the Conversation: America’s Gun Violence Epidemic. Janet Fitch, Director Guns, Grief & Grace in America Documentary Project. Main Points. Gun Violence is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue affecting urban, suburban, small town & rural communities

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Changing the Conversation: America’s Gun Violence Epidemic

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  1. Changing the Conversation:America’s Gun Violence Epidemic Janet Fitch, Director Guns, Grief & Grace in AmericaDocumentary Project

  2. Main Points Gun Violence is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue affecting urban, suburban, small town & rural communities Public health is a unifying framework of diverse disciplines Authentic public awareness creates momentum to refocus Research must be funded and critical thinking expanded Historically, strong coalitions invite a sustained conversation

  3. Creating a Fresh Conversation • Which Framework Offers Fresh Potential & Energy? • Gun Rights vs. Gun Control • Public Health and Prevention • Public Health is a Unifying Force • Broadens & sustains the conversation • Multiple disciplines combine forces • Strategies to Combat Epidemics • Cast a wide net • Offer solutions • Plan preventive strategies • Pinpoint the logical projections

  4. U.S. Gun Violence • Before a child in the U.S. reaches 15 (compared to a child in the rest of the industrialized world), he/she is: • 5 times more likely to be murdered • Twice as likely to commit suicide • 12 times more likely to die of a gun related death • (per Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Matthew Miller: Journal of Trauma, February 2001) • History • Politicians, law enforcement, media – all looked to for leadership • Rampant polarization makes none able to deliver results • Present • Americans are longing for sensible solutions • People divided – public awareness & critical thinking needed • Finding commonality to break through the polarization

  5. We Are All in this Together • We need a new a framework to help prevent: • Suicides • The leading cause (55%) of gun fatalities annually • Most often occur in rural and suburban areas • Urban Homicides • Devastation and huge incarceration rates in central cities • Domestic Violence • Often the lead category of homicides outside of urban centers  • Mass Shootings • Increasing and knowing no boundaries

  6. Million Mom March for Sensible Gun Laws • Mothers Day, 2000 - in the wake of Columbine • Called women and others to Washington to express moral outrage and effect common sense gun laws • Satellite marches across U.S. – in all totaled over a million • Media downplayed – participants felt a turning point had occurred • MMM became part of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

  7. 2000 - 2012 Gun Lobby Escalates Political Activity • Unprecedented Levels of Political Polarization • Strategy shifts from reactive to proactive • State legislatures flood with efforts to expand gun rights • Increased pressure & bullying of politicians is rampant • Public Opinion Neutralizes

  8. Newtown, CT • Momentum builds again in aftermath of horror • President Obama takes steps, including reinstatement of C.D.C. research on gun violence • Public Opinion is again shifting to moral outrage • How do we convert energy to create authentic change? • NEED: A sustained conversation that will break through polarization to inspire and immediately empower a diverse range of currently divided citizens to come together.

  9. Summary We need to think in complex ways about this dilemma – and we need tools – to be able to act for as long as it takes: Gun Violence is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue affecting urban, suburban, small town & rural communities Public health is a unifying framework of diverse disciplines Authentic public awareness creates momentum to refocus Research must be funded and critical thinking expanded Historically, strong coalitions invite a sustained conversation

  10. January 2013! “Martin Luther King, Jr. showed our nation a path toward equality and justice for all of its citizens. He didn’t do it through politics of hate and division. He did it by building a coalition of Americans from all backgrounds, bringing people together to accomplish a common goal. That is the spirit that defines America---and it is the heart of our grassroots network today. We know that if we work together, there is nothing we can’t achieve.” Quote/Tammy Baldwin, January 17, 2013

  11. Q&A

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