“California has taken a big step to address the scourge of gun violence. A new state law will allow scientists to generate the evidence that legislators and community leaders need to design violence prevention programs that work...” Continue reading
“As the coronavirus pandemic begins to wane in the U.S., a number of public mass shootings have once again reminded us of the epidemic of gun violence in our country. The FedEx shooting in Indianapolis, the massage parlor shooting in Atlanta, and the Boulder supermarket shooting were only a few of the 160 mass shootings (defined as four or more people killed) in the first four months of 2021.
“Some leaders are calling for an end to stay-at-home orders to save the economy, while public health experts argue this will result in a surge of COVID deaths. The implication is that we have to choose between a financial crisis and a public health crisis, and that lives are more important than money. But economic crises are public health crises.
“Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has people around the world feeling vulnerable and scared. In America, individualism and firearm culture have generated a unique response to this threat: stockpiling firearms and ammunition.1
“The police picked him up from his high school after a terrified student told her principal he had threatened to slit her throat. She showed them his Instagram, where he had posted pictures of the Charleston Church shooter with the word “hero” underneath it, and a picture of their science lab with the caption “Columbine 2.0”.
“This past month, 11 Jewish people were shot at a synagogue by a man who had posted anti-Semitic comments online. Two African-American people were murdered at a grocery store by a gunman who had just tried and failed to enter a black church. Twelve people were shot and killed at a Thousand Oaks nightclub. Like clockwork, public speculation about the presumed mental illness of the shooters unfolded soon thereafter.
“SACRAMENTO — A few years ago, the police brought a 21-year-old man into the crisis unit where I work as an emergency psychiatrist...” Continue reading
