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; 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; (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— (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; 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 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; 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; (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 That the House of Representatives— (1) declares gun violence a public health crisis in the United States; (2) supports the resolutions drafted, introduced, and adopted by cities, localities, and States across the Nation declaring gun violence a public health crisis or emergency; (3) urges a coordinated whole-of-government effort to addressing the gun violence public health crisis and ensuring the safety of all children; (4) urges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue its work utilizing the 4-step public health approach to violence prevention and collaborate with other Federal Government agencies to resolve the gun violence public health crisis; (5) urges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand its research and data collection capabilities pertaining to gun violence prevention; (6) urges the Surgeon General to issue a report on firearm injuries and violence prevention; and (7) commits to ending the gun violence public health crisis so that all people can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Summary: This resolution declares gun violence to be a public health crisis. It also urges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand research and data collection on preventing gun violence and the Surgeon General to report on firearm injuries and violence prevention.