Gun Crisis Insider: Bringing attention to the epidemic of gun violence

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Jim MacMillan

After a brutal stretch of gun violence news last week, and another violent weekend, we are enjoying a comparatively quiet period this morning, which is the best news we ever have the opportunity to deliver.

Last Monday, we had to split the staff we had intended to cover Vice President Biden’s gun safety roundtable in Philadelphia in order to cover the courthouse shooting in Wilmington, Delaware, while watching local reports of another child bringing a gun to school and national coverage of the Christopher Dorner manhunt.

Tom Kelly IV was honored by the National PRess Photographers Assocaition for his work with the the Gun Crisis Reporting Project.

Tom Kelly IV was recently honored by the National Press Photographers Association for his work with the the Gun Crisis Reporting Project, including this photograph of a Philadelphia Police helicopter over the scene after two teens were shot to death in the Overbrook section of the city last summer.

This morning, with no reports of new overnight shooting victims in Philadelphia, your editor just spent a little while updating media coverage of the Gun Crisis Reporting Project at http://guncrisis.org/press/

In recent weeks, the Daily Gazette reported on our new collaboration with a Peace and Conflict Studies course at Swarthmore, the Daily Pennsylvanian took notice of our project in a report on local gun violence reduction efforts and the Groundswell blog covered us again, this time in a report on tracking projects led by independent journalism organizations.

Recently, we collaborated with a British ITN news team for several nights and have been in touch with more international news agencies interested in examining gun violence in cities like Philadelphia.

A sheet partially covers the victim as police investigate a fatal shooting on the 3200 block of Spangler Street Allegheny West section of Philadelphia on Sunday June 24, 2012. Police said four people were shot, one fatally, when a gun battle broke out during an unofficial block party. Photograph by Joseph Kaczmarek for the Gun Crisis Reporting Project.

Joseph Kaczmarek of the Gun Crisis Reporting Project was honored by the NPPA for his coverage on this fatal shooting scene in the Allegheny West section of Philadelphia last summer.

And finally, Gun Crisis Reporting Project partners Joseph Kaczmarek and Tom Kelly were recognized with more honors than any other Philadelphia news organization in the National Press Photographer’s recent Northern Short Course competition.

You won’t catch us celebrating before we can point to long-term reductions in gun violence, but we believe that this attention supports our goals of more clearly illuminating and defining the challenge of gun violence reduction, by enhancing the discussion of solutions, and by accelerating the demand to disrupt the epidemic of homicide by gunfire.

How do you think we can come together to stop the shooting? When you discuss gun violence solutions on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr or Instagram, be sure to include the #phillypeaceplan hashtag and we will add your comments to our compilation of responses. More info: http://guncrisis.org/phillypeaceplan/

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#GunCrisis Solution of the Day: Kristof advocates for public health alternatives

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Jim MacMillan

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof looks into public health solutions to gun violence:

Safe From Fire, but Not Guns

Yet if traditional efforts at gun control are at a political dead end, there should still be room for a public health effort to mitigate their harm.

Take auto safety, one of the great successes of public health. Many car accidents involve unlawful behavior such as speeding or driving while intoxicated. We prosecute those offenders, but, for decades, we’ve also taken a broader public health approach. We’ve required seat belts and air bags, we’ve created graduated licenses for young drivers, and we have engineered roads and intersections so that accidents are less lethal.

The upshot is that the traffic fatality rate in the United States has fallen to a record low. Seat belts alone save more than 12,000 lives a year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

So if we can make cars safer, without banning them, then why not try to do the same with guns?

Look, I know this isn’t sexy. It certainly isn’t as satisfying to gun opponents as a ban on some kinds of firearms. But this approach might actually save thousands of lives.

Read the full column: Safe From Fire, but Not Guns

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