IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 348 

Declaring gun violence a public health crisis. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2023 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. NORTON, Mr. EVANS, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Mr. HIGGINS

of New York, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. 

DESAULNIER, Ms. TITUS, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. TORRES of New York, Ms. 

BROWN, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. FROST, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. 

CROCKETT, and Mr. BOWMAN) submitted the following resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Declaring gun violence a public health crisis. 

Whereas gun violence remains the leading cause of death for 

children and adolescents in the United States, according 

to the latest mortality data by the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention; 

Whereas there have been at least 2,069 school shooting incidents in the United States since 1970, causing 684 fatalities and 1,937 injuries, according to the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security; 


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•HRES 348 IH 

Whereas more than 349,000 students in the United States 

have experienced gun violence at school in the time since 

the Columbine shooting occurred in 1999; 

Whereas, on April 16, 2007, 33 people were shot and killed 

at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia; 

Whereas the United States has experienced hundreds of public mass shootings in churches, schools, concerts, and 

movie theaters, including— 

(1) on August 5, 2012, when 6 people were shot and 

killed at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin; 

(2) on December 14, 2012, when 27 individuals, including 20 children, were shot and killed at Sandy Hook 

Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut; 

(3) on June 17, 2015, when 9 Black Americans were 

shot and killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 

(4) on December 2, 2015, when 14 people were shot 

and killed at the Inland Regional Center in San 

Bernardino, California; 

(5) on June 12, 2016, when 49 individuals, 90 percent of whom were Hispanic, were shot and killed at 

Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in what is considered the deadliest attack on LGBTQ+ people in United 

States history; 

(6) on September 16, 2013, when 12 people were 

shot and killed at the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command inside Washington Navy Yard in Southeast Washington, DC; 

(7) on October 1, 2017, when 58 people were shot 

and killed and 546 others were injured in Las Vegas, Nevada, in what is known to be the deadliest mass shooting 

in United States history committed by a single individual; 


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•HRES 348 IH 

(8) on November 5, 2017, when 27 people were shot 

and killed at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas; 

(9) on February 14, 2018, when 17 students and 

staff were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas 

High School in Parkland, Florida; 

(10) on October 27, 2018, when 11 people were shot 

and killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania; 

(11) on August 3, 2019, when 23 people were shot 

and murdered during an act of domestic terrorism in El 

Paso, Texas, considered one of the deadliest attacks on 

a Hispanic community in modern American history; 

(12) on May 14, 2022, when 10 Black Americans 

were shot and killed in a racially motivated rampage at 

a supermarket in Buffalo, New York; 

(13) on May 24, 2022, when 19 students and 2 

teachers were shot and killed at Robb Elementary School 

in Uvalde, Texas; 

(14) on January 21, 2023, when 11 Asian Americans were shot and killed at Star Ballroom Dance Studio 

in Monterey Park, California; 

(15) on March 27, 2023, when 6 elementary school 

students and staff were shot and killed at the Covenant 

School in Nashville, Tennessee; 

(16) on April 10, 2023, when 5 people were shot 

and killed at Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky; 

and 

(17) on April 15, 2023, when 4 young people were 

shot and killed at a birthday celebration in Dadeville, 

Alabama; 

Whereas in the United States— 


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•HRES 348 IH 

(1) every day, 120 people are shot and killed, and 

more than 200 are shot and wounded at the hands of a 

gun; 

(2) 44,340 people died from gun-related injuries in 

2022; 

(3) the gun homicide rate is at least 26 times higher 

than in other high-income countries; 

(4) 54 percent of gun-related deaths were suicides in 

both 2020 and 2021; 

(5) there were at least 646 mass shootings in 2022 

where 4 or more people were shot or killed in a single 

incident involving a gun; 

(6) there have already been more than 173 mass 

shootings in 2023 where 4 or more people have been shot 

or killed in a single incident involving a gun; and 

(7) 61 active shooter incidents led to over 100 

deaths in 2021, a 52.5-percent increase from 2020, according to the most recently available data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 

Whereas, in an average year, at least 10,300 hate crimes involve a firearm in the United States, which is more than 

28 every day; 

Whereas communities of color are disproportionately impacted by gun violence; 

Whereas neighborhoods suffering from gun violence are the 

same areas that lack economic opportunity, adequate infrastructure, access to quality schools, and housing opportunities; 

Whereas, every month, an average of 70 women are shot and 

killed by an intimate partner; 


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•HRES 348 IH 

Whereas intimate partner violence is a serious public health 

problem, and instances of severe physical violence and violence inflicted with a firearm are predominantly experienced by women with male partners; 

Whereas, in 2015, 92 percent of all firearm deaths among 

women in high-income countries occurred in the United 

States; 

Whereas 16 percent of gay and lesbian youth, 11 percent of 

bisexual youth, and 29 percent of transgender youth have 

been threatened or injured with a deadly weapon on 

school property, including guns, according to a Youth 

Risk Behavior Survey published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 

Whereas, in 2016, the American Medical Association adopted 

its policy calling gun violence in the United States ‘‘a 

public health crisis’’ requiring a comprehensive public 

health response and solution; 

Whereas, in 2016, the American Medical Association President noted that ‘‘with [tens of thousands of] men, women 

and children dying each year at the barrel of a gun in 

elementary schools, movie theaters, workplaces, houses of 

worship and on live television, the United States faces a 

public health crisis of gun violence’’; 

Whereas, in 2018, the American College of Physicians issued 

a position paper detailing how ‘‘firearm violence continues to be a public health crisis that requires the nation’s immediate attention’’; 

Whereas, in 2019, a study by Florida Atlantic University’s 

Schmidt College of Medicine found that more United 

States school-age children die from guns than on-duty 

United States police or global military fatalities; 


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•HRES 348 IH 

Whereas the American Public Health Association finds that 

gun violence is a leading cause of premature death in the 

United States; 

Whereas, in 2019, Black children and teens had the highest 

gun death rate, followed by American Indian and Alaska 

Native children and teens; 

Whereas, in 2020, guns became the leading cause of death 

for children in the United States, a trend which has continued in all years that have followed; 

Whereas, in 2021, the Governor of New York declared gun 

violence a public health emergency; 

Whereas, in 2021, the mayor of Washington, DC, declared 

gun violence to be a public health crisis and announced 

a whole-of-government approach to combating this crisis; 

Whereas, in 2021, the Governor of Illinois declared gun violence a public health crisis; 

Whereas, in 2022, 6,171 children aged 0 to 17 were injured 

or died as a result of gun violence; 

Whereas, in January 2022, city officials in Cincinnati, Ohio, 

declared gun violence a public health crisis; 

Whereas, in February 2022, the mayor of Columbus, Ohio, 

declared gun violence a public health crisis; 

Whereas, in June 2022, the Guilford County Commissioners 

in North Carolina declared gun violence a public health 

crisis; 

Whereas a public health crisis is defined as meeting 4 criteria— 

(1) the condition affects many people, is seen as a 

threat to the public, and is continuing to increase; 

(2) the condition is distributed unfairly; 


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•HRES 348 IH 

(3) preventive measures could reduce the effects of 

the condition; and 

(4) those preventive measures are not yet in place; 

Whereas gun violence meets the criteria of a public health 

crisis; 

Whereas, in 1979, the Surgeon General identified violent behavior as a key public health priority; 

Whereas, in 1992, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control as the lead Federal organization for 

violence prevention; 

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlines a 4-step public health approach to violence prevention, rooted in the scientific method, which requires officials to— 

(1) define and monitor the problem; 

(2) identify risk and protective factors; 

(3) develop and test prevention strategies; and 

(4) assure widespread adoption; 

Whereas a Federal public health crisis declaration defines 

gun violence as a pervasive health issue and alerts the 

Nation of the need to enact immediate and effective 

cross-governmental efforts to prevent gun violence; and 

Whereas such declaration requires the response of the Government to engage significant resources to empower those 

communities that are impacted: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) declares gun violence a public health crisis 

3 in the United States; 


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•HRES 348 IH 

1 (2) supports the resolutions drafted, introduced, 

2 and adopted by cities, localities, and States across 

3 the Nation declaring gun violence a public health 

4 crisis or emergency; 

5 (3) urges a coordinated whole-of-government ef6 fort to addressing the gun violence public health cri7 sis and ensuring the safety of all children; 

8 (4) urges the Centers for Disease Control and 

9 Prevention to continue its work utilizing the 4-step 

10 public health approach to violence prevention and 

11 collaborate with other Federal Government agencies 

12 to resolve the gun violence public health crisis; 

13 (5) urges the Centers for Disease Control and 

14 Prevention to expand its research and data collection 

15 capabilities pertaining to gun violence prevention; 

16 (6) urges the Surgeon General to issue a report 

17 on firearm injuries and violence prevention; and 

18 (7) commits to ending the gun violence public 

19 health crisis so that all people can enjoy life, liberty, 

20 and the pursuit of happiness. 

Æ 


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