IV 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 835 
Declaring gun violence a public health crisis. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 28, 2025 
Mr. ESPAILLAT 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 inci-
dents in the United States since 1970, causing 684 fa-
talities and 1,937 injuries, according to the Naval Post-
graduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Se-
curity; 
Whereas more than 360,000 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; 
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Whereas the United States has experienced hundreds of pub-
lic 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, in-
cluding 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 Epis-
copal 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 per-
cent of whom were Hispanic, were shot and killed at 
Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in what is consid-
ered 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 Sys-
tems Command inside Washington Navy Yard in South-
east Washington, DC; 
(7) on October 1, 2017, when 58 people were shot 
and killed and 546 others were injured in Las Vegas, Ne-
vada, 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; 
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(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 Ameri-
cans 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; 
(17) on April 15, 2023, when 4 young people were 
shot and killed at a birthday celebration in Dadeville, 
Alabama; 
(18) on May 6, 2023, when 9 individuals were shot 
and killed at a mall in Allen, Texas; 
(19) on June 21, 2024, when 4 individuals were shot 
and killed at a butcher store in Fordyce, Arkansas; and 
(20) on September 4, 2024, when 4 students were 
shot and killed at Apalachee High School in Winder, 
Georgia; 
Whereas in the United States— 
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(1) every day, 125 people are shot and killed, and 
more than 200 are shot and wounded at the hands of a 
gun; 
(2) 47,000 people died from gun-related injuries in 
2023; 
(3) the gun homicide rate is at least 26 times higher 
than in other high-income countries; 
(4) nearly 60 percent of gun-related deaths were sui-
cides in both 2019 and 2023; 
(5) there were at least 399 mass shootings in 2024 
where four or more people were shot or killed in a single 
incident involving a gun; 
(6) there have already been more than 124 mass 
shootings in 2025 where four 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, ac-
cording to the most recently available data from the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation; 
Whereas, in an average year, at least 10,300 hate crimes in-
volve a firearm in the United States, which is more than 
28 every day; 
Whereas communities of color are disproportionately im-
pacted by gun violence; 
Whereas neighborhoods suffering from gun violence are the 
same areas that lack economic opportunity, adequate in-
frastructure, access to quality schools, and housing op-
portunities; 
Whereas, every month, an average of 70 women are shot and 
killed by an intimate partner; 
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Whereas intimate partner violence is a serious public health 
problem, and instances of severe physical violence and vi-
olence inflicted with a firearm are predominantly experi-
enced 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 Dis-
ease 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 Presi-
dent 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 con-
tinues to be a public health crisis that requires the na-
tion’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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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 con-
tinued 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 vio-
lence 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 four cri-
teria— 
(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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(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 be-
havior as a key public health priority; 
Whereas, in 1992, the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention established the National Center for Injury Pre-
vention and Control as the lead Federal organization for 
violence prevention; 
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention out-
lines a 4-step public health approach to violence preven-
tion, rooted in the scientific method, which requires offi-
cials 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, in July 2024, under President Joseph Biden, the 
then-United States Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, offi-
cially issued an advisory officially recognizing firearm vio-
lence as a critical public health crisis; 
Whereas, in March 2025, under President Donald Trump, 
the public health crisis advisory was wiped from the De-
partment of Health and Humans Services’ website; 
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 
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Whereas such declaration requires the response of the Gov-
ernment to engage significant resources to empower those 
communities that are impacted: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, 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 ef-
fort to addressing the gun violence public health cri-
sis and ensuring the safety of all children; 
(4) urges the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention to continue its work utilizing the four- 
step public health approach to violence prevention 
and collaborate with other Federal Government 
agencies to resolve the gun violence public health cri-
sis; 
(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 
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(7) commits to ending the gun violence public 
health crisis so that all people can enjoy life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness. 
Æ 
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