By Carin Enovijas
America is simultaneously fighting two intersecting pandemics: Covid-19 and the deadly spread of chronic, socioeconomic inequalities underlying the proliferation of gun violence that disproportionately affects communities of color. Historically in America, gun violence rises during times of crisis. Economic hardships and social unrest incite fear and panic causing people to scramble for protection, as was the case following the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Sandy Hook shootings, and now Covid-19. “People are nervous that there’s a certain amount of civil disorder that might come if huge numbers of people are sick and a huge number of institutions are not operating normally,” stated Timothy Lytton, Georgia State University Professor of Law in a recent New York Times article. Lyton adds, “They may have an anxiety about protecting themselves if the organs of state are starting to erode.”
In March, over 3.7 million background checks for new firearms purchases were processed by the FBI — the highest in more than 20 years. Online ammunition sales also increased — as much as 1,000% in states like Colorado, Arizona, and Texas. Over Father’s Day weekend, a record number of shootings occurred across the country. In Chicago, 104 people were shot resulting in 14 fatalities including five children (Memorial Day weekend in the Windy City was the deadliest on record, with 85 shootings and 24 deaths). In Minneapolis, 11 were shot and one killed when gunmen opened fire outside a crowded uptown nightclub. Three were wounded in three separate shootings inside Seattle’s “Capitol Hill Organized Protest” zone. As of June 15, New York City law enforcement logged 125 shootings and more than a dozen fatalities, more than doubling gun violence reported last June.
While more than 2 million legal gun purchases were processed in March, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reported that more than 1,000 guns were stolen from retailers across the country during that same period. As Covid-19 shutdowns were implemented around the country, gun rights groups behind a slew of lawsuits prevailed in keeping firearms retailers open in 30 states after the Department of Homeland Security issued an advisory designating gun stores as “essential” businesses.”
These examples of escalating violence and the rush to cache deadly arms in the middle of a global pandemic are a symptom of the chronic public health issue of gun violence in America. The roots of this issue are twined around growing, systemic social inequalities and the “intentional exclusion and oppression of people of color” that has plagued this nation since its founding, and we won’t be successful in reducing gun violence until we address the underlying causes.
“You all hear about poverty, but inequality is another measure of economic well-being. And there is a strong correlation between homicide per million and income inequality,” says Dr. Mark Kaplan, professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Kaplan notes that Black males, ages 20-29, suffer the highest risk for homicide by gun at 89 per 100,000. This death rate is on par with Honduras, one of the most violent countries in the world which averages 90.4 homicides per 100,000. “In many ways we look like what some developing or Third World countries are experiencing,” states Kaplan.
In 2018, America averaged 109 gun deaths daily. Close to 40,000 Americans died by gun violence, an increase of 18% between 2009 and 2018. The gun suicide rate has increased 19%, according to The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV). But research also shows that Black Americans are 10 times more likely to die by gun homicide than Whites, and are 14 times more likely to sustain gunshot injuries. While comprising less than 7% of the population, Black men account for 52% of all gun homicide victims. According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, urban gun violence tends to be clustered in “racially segregated, economically disenfranchised neighborhoods.”
A recent New York Times opinion piece compares America’s casual acceptance of more than 150,000 Covid-19 deaths with the same kind of widespread complacency that now minimizes mass shootings and gun violence. These commonplace occurrences appear to have no feasible solution as we appear to have reached a political impasse over proposed gun control reforms, while the Trump administration’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic constantly counters recommendations by public health officials. The dehumanization of victims, whether from gun violence or coronavirus, reduces the catastrophic loss of life to little more than numbers on a page and odds upon which the lives of others are routinely risked.
Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and Brown University professor working on gun violence prevention, compares the arguments of Covidd-19’s “anti-lockdown” protesters with those who claim that attempts to reduce gun violence in America violate their constitutional right to bear arms.
“This group has moved the reopening debate [i.e. the economy] from a conversation about health and science to a conversation about liberty,” says Ranney. “They’ve redefined the debate so it’s no longer about weighing risks and benefits and instead it’s this politicized narrative. It’s like taking a nuanced conversation about gun injury and turning it into an argument about gun rights. It shuts the conversation down.”
Similar rhetorical rationalizations assert that only more guns will help reduce gun violence, and crime in general. They also claim that gun violence is an issue of criminal intent that separates law abiding gun owners from public health concerns by claiming that “bad guys” will always gain access to guns regardless of attempts to reduce access. But each of these assertions fail to address the root causes of gun violence.
As Covid-19 collides with ongoing protests over the murder of George Floyd and the systemic racism infecting America’s law enforcement institutions, people are now living in a heightened state of fear. The world is watching as “the organs of state are starting to erode” while we simultaneously attempt to cope with two deadly public health pandemics. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened Black Lives Matter protesters with military force. At his July 19 rally in Tulsa he received enthusiastic applause from an audience of approximately 6,000 presumed 2nd Amendment supporters following a poorly concealed call to arms against BLM protesters gathered outside the arena. “When you see those lunatics all over the streets, it’s damn nice to have arms,” said Trump.
The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV), a non-profit organization seeking evidence-based policy solutions and programs to reduce gun violence, cites numerous studies concluding that social and economic inequalities disproportionately impacting communities of color are at the root of gun violence in America. The top causes listed are: “income inequality, poverty, underfunded public housing, under-resourced public services, underperforming schools, lack of opportunity and perceptions of hopelessness, and easy access to firearms by high-risk people.”
According to the US Department of Health’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion “The prevalence of poverty in the United States is an important public health issue,” resulting in a disproportionate number of adverse health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris experienced this first-hand while treating low-income patients with chronic illnesses. She developed a method for measuring ACES, Adverse Childhood Experiences, noting that childhood traumas, including prolonged exposure to poverty and gun violence, have been generationally linked to “chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance misuse in adulthood.” Burke argues that while 61% of American adults have experienced a high number of ACEs, the effects of these experiences, like the public health issue of gun violence, can be prevented and treated through targeted social programs and awareness.
According to the EFSVG, “In communities of color, nearly everyone is impacted by the traumatic effects of gun violence. In fact, one study found that among Blacks, the likelihood of having someone within their social network die by firearm at some point during their lifetime was 95.5%.” The EFSVG describes gun violence as “a multifaceted challenge that demands a holistic set of solutions to stop the cycles in impacted communities of color.” In addition to limiting access to firearms by those considered high-risk for promoting gun violence, the EFSVG advocates a three-step, public health and safety approach to reducing gun violence in the communities most deeply affected:
- Address the underlying social and economic inequalities that fuel gun violence.
- Adequately funding community-based violence intervention and prevention efforts grounded in evidence that build authentic relationships with those impacted.
- Supporting local organizations that address the social and economic inequalities at the root of gun violence.
The global Covid-19 pandemic has revealed many fatal weaknesses in America’s institutions. Gun violence remains symbiotically tied to the racial and socioeconomic inequality that continues to grow exponentially across America. The resulting carnage and death have been normalized via the commonplace acceptance of a public health issue that disproportionately impacts the bodies, minds, communities, and lives of people of color. Recognizing and addressing the root cause of America’s proliferation of gun violence is the first step towards creating effective public health policies capable of making all our communities safer and more equitable places to live.
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