Changing the Conversation:
America’s Gun Violence Epidemic
Janet Fitch, Director
Guns, Grief & Grace in America Documentary Project
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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
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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
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Cast a wide net
Offer solutions
Plan preventive strategies
Pinpoint the logical projections
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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