"Recent reports here and elsewhere in the media have focused on gun violence in the US, reporting a dramatic rise in mass shootings in 2020 – despite the pandemic – which by November had overtaken the total for 2019. The term mass shooting conjures up images of Columbine and Parkland, but the story for 2020 is more complex." The Violence … [Read more...]
US gun violence: too many people have died in 2020 – and COVID played a larger part than you think
Recent Shootings Spark Fears of a More Violent Summer
While mass shootings have occurred much less frequently this year, the number of other non-suicidal gun deaths is expected to be greater than last year. Increased stress, divisions over racial justice and policing, and political tensions are a few of the factors impacting the number of violent shootings. The Violence Project's James Densley told … [Read more...]
Why Nonprofits Can’t Research Gun Violence As Well As The Feds
Federal funding for gun-related research through the CDC and National Institutes of Health is limited by the Dickey Amendment, which bans the use of federal money to "advocate or promote gun control." However, this amendment doesn't restrict all federal funding. The Violence Project's co-founder James Densley commented on the impact of a grant from … [Read more...]
‘Modern gun’ or weapon of war? Carnage heightens scrutiny of popular, widely available assault rifles
Thousands of semiautomatic, military-style rifles filter out of Garrett Streitz’s gun manufacturing business every year, and there’s no shortage of people who want to buy one. “It’s just the modern gun,” said Streitz, who owns Alex Pro Firearms in Alexandria, Minn. To others, they are weapons of war whose lethality was again put on grim … [Read more...]
Trying to understand and prevent mass shootings
Whenever there’s a mass shooting, like the three last week, we ask ourselves two questions: Why? And, how can we keep it from happening again? The Violence Project, a nonpartisan think tank, strives to answer those questions. Under a grant from the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Violence … [Read more...]