Over 36,000 people are killed by guns each year in the U.S. ― an average of 100 people per day. That’s on top of the 100,000 people injured by firearms, many of whom suffer life-long debilitating injuries. And the problem is getting worse: gun violence crested in 2017 to their highest level in 40 years. This daily grind of violence is often punctuated by horrific mass shootings ― there have been several in December already.
This is a political problem, as the federal government and many (though not all) states refuse to take meaningful action to reduce the bloodshed. It’s also a market problem, as giant firearm manufacturers reap enormous profits by selling instruments of harm to the public. But it’s also a fundamental public health problem: preventable deaths are occurring in communities across the country and meaningfully affecting national mortality rates.
Doctors, policymakers and activists are working diligently to find solutions and implement them in a way that can save lives. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, partnering with HuffPost, held a panel discussion on Wednesday called Curbing Gun Violence: Strategies for Change. HuffPost Deputy Enterprise Editor George Zornick moderated the forum, which featured:
David Hemenway, Professor of Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School
Chana Sacks, Internist at Mass General and Co-Director of the MGH Center for Gun Violence Prevention
Ted Strickland, the 68th governor of Ohio
Mike McLively, Senior Staff Attorney and Community Violence Initiative Director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Watch the full panel discussion above.