In Seattle, Dr. Meyer has been involved with a local group called Washington Ceasefire, prompted both by her experience as a resident in Detroit – where she was routinely exposed to the traumas of gun violence – as well as a shooting that occurred outside her daughter’s high school in Seattle years ago. The group has recently begun advocating for smart guns, which are designed to be fired only by an authorized user.
Indeed, Dr. Hemenway said research by his group suggests 300,000-500,000 guns are stolen every year, though he points out that we know almost nothing about “who, what, when, why, and where.” That’s largely because of an effective ban on gun violence research, enacted by Congress in the 1990s.9
“It’s not like there’s no evidence, but compared to the size of the problem, you want good evidence,” Dr. Hemenway said. “America has lots of guns. How can we learn to live with them?”
Gun violence affects not just those shot and killed by firearms, but also those affected by the trauma it can leave in its wake. Dr. Sacks recounts a recent visit to Massachusetts General by survivors of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., which took place on June 12, 2016.
