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America’s gun problem, explained

After every mass shooting, the debate over guns and gun violence starts up once again. Maybe some bills get introduced. Critics respond with concerns that the government is trying to take away their guns. The debate stalls. So even as America continues experiencing levels of gun violence unrivaled in the rest of the developed world, nothing happens — no laws are passed by Congress, nothing significant is done to try to prevent the next horror.

So why is it that for all the outrage and mourning with every mass shooting, nothing seems to change? To understand that, it’s important to grasp not just the stunning statistics about gun ownership and gun violence in the United States, but…

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Articles of Interest

The U.S. Once Had A Ban On Assault Weapons — Why Did It Expire?

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Trauma Surgeon Battles Bullets In The Operating Room And The Community

"The disease that bullets bring does not yet have a name. It's like an infection, because it affects more than just the flesh it pierces. It infects the entire family, the entire community. Even our country." Dr. Laurie Punch, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis

What Research Shows About the Alleged Link Between Mental Illness and Gun Violence

"Mental illness and hate pulls the trigger, not the gun," President Trump said on Monday. But the causal connection between mental health and gun violence is not as strong as he suggests.

Could a national buyback program reduce gun violence in America?

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Dear Walmart C.E.O.: You Have the Power to Curb Gun Violence. Do It

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How The U.S. Compares With Other Countries In Deaths From Gun Violence

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Resources

March For Our Lives

Founded after the shooting in Parkland 2018. Fighting for a nation free of gun violence. Join us.

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) is a 501(c)(4) organization that was founded in 1974. We seek to secure freedom from gun violence through research, strategic engagement and effective policy advocacy.

HospitalsUnited.com

13 kids die from guns every day. But there is a way you can protect your child. Ask your family and friends if there’s an unlocked gun in the house. It can save a life and it doesn’t kill to ask.

ChangeGunViolence.com

Changing the Conversation: America's Gun Violence Epidemic is the final film in the 3-part series: Guns, Grief and Grace in America.

Everytown

Everytown is a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities. Gun violence touches every town in America. For too long, change has been thwarted by the Washington gun lobby and by leaders who refuse to take common-sense steps that will save lives.

Giffords

Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed with a gun than people in other developed nations – but it doesn’t have to be this way. Gun deaths are preventable, which is why we’re committed to tackling this national gun violence epidemic.

Americans for Responsible Solutions

With Americans for Responsible Solutions and likeminded friends engaging millions of people about ways to reduce gun violence and supporting lawmakers willing to take a stand for responsible policies, legislators will no longer have reason to fear the gun lobby and their dangerously deep pockets.

Bishops United Against Gun Violence

Bishops United Against Gun Violence is a group of more than 60 Episcopal bishops working to curtail the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.

Brady Campaign

The mission of the Brady organization and its Million Mom March is to create a safer America by cutting gun deaths in half by 2025.

Campaign to Stop Gun Violence

The Campaign to Stop Gun Violence is welcome to all national organizations that want to make a difference in preventing the loss of precious lives to gun violence

Coalition for Gun Control

Founded in the wake of the Montreal Massacre, the Coalition for Gun Control was formed to support strategies to reduce gun death, injury and crime.

Concert Across Amewrica

The power of music to reach far and wide has fueled countless important movements in recent decades. Now is the time to turn up the music to turn down the hateful rhetoric that has become a hallmark of the gun debate.

Everytown

Everytown is a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities. Gun violence touches every town in America. For too long, change has been thwarted by the Washington gun lobby and by leaders who refuse to take common-sense steps that will save lives.

Grandmothers Against Gun Violence

Grandmothers Against Gun Violence works collaboratively with other groups to reduce gun violence and remedy the complex societal factors that contribute to a culture of gun violence.

International Action Network on Small Arms

The International Action Network on Small Arms is the global movement against gun violence, linking civil society organisations working to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons.

Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence exists because we believe that none of us has to live in a society where so many lives are lost to gunfire. We all deserve to live in communities free from the fear and threat of gun violence. We can protect everyone’s Second Amendment rights AND enact smart laws that will reduce death and injury from firearms. We know it’s possible, and we know how to do it.

Moms Demand Action

It's time for gun sense in America.

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence

The mission of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence (NYAGV) is to reduce gun violence through legislative advocacy and education designed to encourage action, influence public opinion and lead to policy change. With a primary focus on New York State, NYAGV also advocates at the local and national levels for laws, policies and practices that protect New York State residents, particularly youth, from gun violence

Newtown Action Alliance

We Are All Touched by Gun Violence: The Newtown Action Alliance provides comfort, education, scholarship and other support and resources to people and communities impacted by or living in the aftermath of gun violence in American society, and to help them lead the way toward positive cultural change.

States United to Prevent Gun Violence

States United to Prevent Gun Violence is a grassroots network of 30 state affiliates working to make our communities and families safer. As part of our 50 State Solution to end gun violence, we support existing state-based gun violence prevention groups and bring new partners into the movement.

The Pledge

The Student Pledge Against Gun Violence is a national program that honors the role that young people, through their own decisions, can play in reducing gun violence. This campaign against youth gun violence culminates each year on a Day of National Concern about Young People and Gun Violence.

Women Against Gun Violence

Traditional approaches to fighting gun violence have been largely limited to policy development and lobbying government to pass more restrictive firearms laws. While policy advocacy is essential and part of what we do, our founding innovative idea of taking on gun violence as a women’s issue and focusing on violence prevention on a community level forms the basis of our program work.

Zero Gun Violence Movement

There is story behind every gun shot fired - are we ready to listen to the full story? Because that is where you will find the solution to gun violence. Louis March ~ Founder.