Gun Violence in America
In the first four months of 2023, we had more than 140 mass shootings in the United States. And yet mass shootings are a small fraction of the daily carnage of gun violence in America— most of the almost 50,000 gun deaths each year are from suicides, domestic violence and inner city violence.
How does the wealthiest nation in the world, uniquely tethered to the Second Amendment, begin to talk intelligently about the epidemic of gun violence in the US? How can we get beyond the usual Culture Wars argument—“Do Something about Guns!” and “From My Cold Dead Hand”—to a rational, reasonable, nuanced, and mutually-respectful national conversation about gun violence?
This foray into one of the most polarizing topics in modern American life will provide perspectives from a variety of vantage points including historical, sociological, economic, legal, and political in addition to a survey of potential approaches to solutions. Humanities scholar, historian and Jeffersonian Clay Jenkinson moderates the discussion with two live panelists and a variety of recorded materials including interviews conducted in preparation for the event. He will be joined by David Yamane, a professor of sociology at Wake Forest University and the author of the blog guncurious.com, and Joshua Horwitz, the Dana Feitler Professor in Gun Violence Prevention and Advocacy at Johns Hopkins University.
