{"id":1692,"date":"2025-12-23T23:07:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T23:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/?p=1692"},"modified":"2025-12-23T23:07:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T23:07:37","slug":"united-states-reduces-mass-shootings-but-remains-the-country-with-the-highest-gun-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/american-community-media\/united-states-reduces-mass-shootings-but-remains-the-country-with-the-highest-gun-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"United States Reduces Mass Shootings but Remains the Country with the Highest Gun Deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Experts examine why violence persists, debunk myths about mental health, and explain which policies and community actions are effective.
<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the number of mass shootings in the United States has fallen to its lowest level in two decades, the country continues to lead high-income nations in gun-related deaths. This contradiction set the tone for a briefing held by American Community Media (ACoM)<\/a>, where experts in public health, mental health, and education-based activism examined why gun violence persists\u2014and which policies and community initiatives have proven effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNational outrage erupts after every mass shooting, but policy responses remain uneven and deeply polarized,\u201d organizers said as they opened the event. The panel addressed both the structural drivers behind mass shootings and recent advances in prevention, highlighting concrete examples from cities such as Baltimore and New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Classroom to Activism: Living Through a School Shooting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Lerner, co-founder of Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence and a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, shared her experience with stark clarity. Lerner was a teacher when a gunman killed 17 people and injured 17 others. \u201cIt was the most horrific experience of my life,\u201d she recalled. \u201cLocked in a room with my students for hours, hearing gunshots and screams, not knowing if we were going to make it out alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trauma did not end when police evacuated the school. \u201cNo one was teaching when we went back,\u201d Lerner said. \u201cHow do you ask a student to read 1984<\/em> when you\u2019ve just buried 17 people?\u201d Instead of lesson plans, the return to school centered on emotional support, therapy, and community care. \u201cThere were therapy dogs, donations, food, coloring books. People didn\u2019t know what to do, but they wanted to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That experience pushed Lerner toward activism and trauma-informed journalism. Through Teachers Unify, she works to amplify the voices of educators who face not only school shootings, but also domestic and community violence. \u201cSchool shootings are only a small part of the problem, but they get almost all the media attention,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lerner was unequivocal in rejecting proposals to arm teachers, such as a law passed in Tennessee. \u201cIt\u2019s the most absurd idea,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re adding more guns to a space full of children. I studied English literature\u2014not to become a police officer.\u201d She also criticized policy rollbacks in Florida, where the minimum age to purchase firearms was lowered again to 18. \u201cIt\u2019s deeply frustrating. We know what works, and yet we keep moving backward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debunking the Mental Health Myth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Ragy Girgis, psychiatrist and director of the Center of Prevention and Evaluation (COPE) at Columbia University, challenged one of the most common narratives that resurfaces after mass shootings: the idea that they are primarily caused by mental illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on a database of more than 2,300 mass killings worldwide since 1900, Girgis was blunt: \u201cOnly about 5% of mass shootings in the United States are linked to severe mental illness. Ninety-five percent are not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cases that do involve mental illness typically feature extreme psychosis, including delusions or hallucinations\u2014conditions that are statistically rare. \u201cBlaming mental health is not only inaccurate,\u201d Girgis said. \u201cIt increases stigma and discourages people from seeking help.\u201d He also dismissed claims that antidepressants increase the risk of violence. \u201cThe evidence shows the opposite: these medications help prevent suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girgis\u2019 research identifies other recurring patterns among perpetrators: fascination with firearms, nihilism\u2014a profound sense of meaninglessness\u2014and narcissistic traits. Another critical factor is suicide. \u201cMore than 50% of perpetrators kill themselves after the attack,\u201d he explained. \u201cOnce someone has decided to die, fear of legal consequences disappears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that context, Girgis emphasized the role of public policy. \u201cStates with weaker gun laws have higher rates of mass shootings per capita,\u201d he said. \u201cAlmost all of the weapons used were legally purchased and later diverted. The issue isn\u2019t just the law\u2014it\u2019s enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Data Actually Shows<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Daniel Webster, Bloomberg Professor of American Health at Johns Hopkins University, offered a data point rarely emphasized in news coverage: gun violence is declining. \u201cIf you only followed the headlines, you\u2019d think everything is getting worse,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the data tells a different story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using 12-month rolling averages, Webster noted that homicides have dropped by nearly 40% since their peak in 2021\u20132022, with some cities seeing declines of up to 60%. He attributed the trend to multiple factors: recovery of social systems weakened during the pandemic, federal investments under the Biden administration, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, community-based violence intervention programs, and new regulations targeting ghost guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery shooting prevented today reduces the likelihood of future shootings tomorrow,\u201d Webster explained. \u201cViolence is contagious\u2014but so is prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about domestic violence, Webster was unequivocal: \u201cThe single factor that makes domestic violence lethal is access to a firearm. Restricting that access saves lives, and the evidence is overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the briefing concluded, panelists shared a message directed squarely at journalists: gun violence is not inevitable, and coverage matters. \u201cTrauma-informed journalism makes a real difference,\u201d Lerner said. \u201cHow you speak to survivors and victims can either help them heal\u2014or reopen wounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diagnosis was clear, and the consensus unusual. The United States can make progress against gun violence. The data exists. Effective policies exist. The question, as ever, is whether political leaders are willing to listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts examine why violence persists, debunk myths about mental health, and explain which policies and community actions are effective. Although the number of mass shootings in the United States has fallen to its lowest level in two decades, the country continues to lead high-income nations in gun-related deaths. This contradiction set the tone for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[686],"tags":[2215,2218,2216,86],"class_list":["post-1692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-community-media","tag-deaths-u-s","tag-mass-shootings","tag-politics-u-s","tag-usa"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1694,"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1692\/revisions\/1694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavoz.us.com\/homepage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}