by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
But since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, his administration has rolled back much of that progress. Layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have decimated the unit responsible for studying and helping to prevent shootings, and federal funding for research and community programs has dwindled.
Dr. Stephen Hargarten, an emergency physician and professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has spent his career studying how regulatory and technological innovation can help reduce firearm deaths. He spoke about the firearm lethality index, a new metric to measure the deadliness of different guns and bullets, something that could help policymakers better decide how to respond to varying levels of harm.
“We wanted to look at how technologies and innovation affect things like suicide rates, homicides, and firearm thefts,” and whether something like a smart gun could play a role in reducing gun-related harms, Hargarten told The Trace. He also explained to the other leaders how Congress could empower federal regulators to require certain safety features in firearms. “As it stands, they don’t have oversight, and we feel that that’s something for us to be looking at.”
The report also noted that, even though homicide rates have declined over the past two years, more people believe that crime is increasing. More effective research and communication are needed to combat these misconceptions, the report argues. It is a dark and challenging time for Americans “who care about public health and reducing gun violence,” Nick Wilson, a summit participant and the senior director for gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress, said in an email.
“The summit reaffirmed my optimism that we will get through this and rebuild our institutions stronger than ever,” Wilson said. “It will help build support for future federal action by demonstrating what works.”
This story was produced by The Trace and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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Source: Black Enterprise
