O
n Nov. 30, a gunman
walked into Oxford High
School in Michigan and opened
fire, killing four and injuring seven
more. The gunman was only 15
years old. This shooting came at
the end of one of the deadliest
years for gun violence in U.S.
history, with almost 45,000 gun
deaths so far. Fighting against
gun violence is not an easy task,
yet shootings such as the one
at Oxford High School show
that the time for change is long
overdue. Gun violence is always an
anomaly — until it hits your own
community, family or friends.
First,
it
is
important
to
understand what gun violence
means. It is violence in which a
firearm (pistol, shotgun, assault
rifle or machine gun) is used in a
domestic or social setting to harm
or kill civilians.
Gun violence is a threat looming
over us that has culminated in one
of the most horrific public health
crises. Why? There is a lack of
transparency and research in gun
violence data collection. Not only
is data limited, the background
check process — which is meant
to screen for mental health issues
or other red flags — is glaringly
deficient.
As passionate advocates of
bringing transparency to gun
violence data, we made it our
mission to carve through the
opacity and find true answers.
We sat down with Dr. Marc
Zimmerman,
professor
of
public health at the University
of Michigan and co-director of
University of Michigan’s Institute
for Firearm Injury Prevention,
to hear about what he and the
University are doing to effect
change.
A young soul from the Jersey
Shore, Zimmerman immediately
showed a keen interest in our
passion to create transparency
and awareness for gun violence
prevention. He has been doing
work on youth gun violence
protection for over 30 years. Five
years ago, he submitted a proposal
to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) for funding
for teenage gun violence research
and subsequently received $6
million in grant funds “to advance
youth firearm violence prevention
research.”
Zimmerman pointed out the
role of demographics in the issue
of gun violence. Sixty percent of all
firearm deaths are suicide, most in
rural areas, and mostly by white
men over the age of 50. This data
begins to introduce the necessity
for us to change the narrative to
protecting mental health instead
of blaming gun violence on mental
health.
This is Zimmerman’s goal.
Occasional national stories of mass
shootings increase stigmas about
people with mental illness, when
in reality, shootings are a daily
occurrence. They are a result of the
lack of mental health background
checks, medical intervention and
money for research. Zimmerman
is bridging this knowledge gap
and bringing clarity to the youth
epidemic of gun violence. For
Zimmerman and us, anti–gun
violence efforts are not about
taking away the 330 million guns
in America, but teaching safer gun
ownership and ensuring stronger
background checks. It is a public
health effort specifically poised at
saving lives.
To
protect
Americans,
we
need more data on how and why
gun deaths occur. This data
will lead us to solutions that
can be implemented to protect
youths, make gun usage safer and
provide transparent information
to our government and medical
professionals.
Doctors are our first line
of
defense.
According
to
Zimmerman, right now, doctors
lack training on how to have a
conversation with their patients
about guns — including safe
storage and maintaining strong
mental health. When you walk
into your doctor’s office, you’re
asked if you use a seatbelt, if you
wear a helmet and if you drink
and drive. Similarly, you should be
asked if your gun is locked in a safe
location in your home.
Dr. Patrick Carter, a colleague
of Zimmerman’s and co-director
of the Institute for Firearm Injury
Prevention, found that less than
5% of older adult firearm owners
discuss safe storage with their
physician even though older adult
suicides account for more than
30% of all firearm fatalities. There
is a disconnect between the data
provided and the practices within
medical offices to prevent suicidal
deaths. More funding is required
to train doctors on how to ask
patients
meaningful
questions
related to firearm safety. Firearm
injury prevention starts with a
conversation with a healthcare
professional.
With more funding and training,
we can give doctors the power to
limit the number of gun deaths.
Students and teachers are also able
to change the conversation and
stigmas around mental health and
gun violence. Nobody understands
this more than Linda Beigel
Schulman. Mother of Scott Beigel,
a heroic teacher who sacrificed
his life defending his students
during the Parkland shooting of
2018. Linda has worked tirelessly
to push for policies such as red
flag laws at a national level and
has become a leader in preventing
further gun violence. Red flag
laws allow officials to temporarily
remove a firearm from those who
present a danger to themselves
and others. This law could prevent
shootings like these in the future.
19 states and Washington, D.C.,
have already enacted this law.
Michigan has yet to pass it.
Schulman
spends
her
days speaking with students,
community leaders and advocates
about her son’s story. By sharing
her story with young people, she
is trying to open the conversation
and prevent another shooting.
Zimmerman
and
Schulman
understand the importance of
mobilizing a population against
teenage violence and cutting to the
root causes.
For the first time in the past
20 years, the CDC and National
Institutes of Health (NIH) have
recognized gun violence as a
public health crisis and have thus
begun to award institutions, such
as Michigan’s Firearm Injury
Prevention Institute, funding. We
need to keep this conversation
moving forward, and to do so
involves you.
Red flag laws are just one
policy that you can help advocate
in the state of Michigan by
writing a letter or calling your
state representative. Increasing
mental health background checks
is another issue that requires
attention and advocacy to increase
the conversation of gun safety
in medical practices. From the
lack of funding for data on gun-
related fatalities to the necessary
mental health focus that should be
enforced in background checks to
facilitating conversations within
medical practices, there are many
areas to leave an impact. It starts
with having a conversation with
your peers.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Opinion
10 — Wednesday, January 12, 2022
ALYSSA FLETCHER &
DANIEL SILVERS
Daily Contributors
Design by Maddy Leja, Opinion Cartoonist
A
s Martin Luther King Jr.
Day approaches on January
17, we must remember his
dream that one day people of every
race would be treated as equals. In his
“I Have a Dream” speech, he famously
urges his listeners to fight for their
equality with peaceful protest rather
than with violence.
Despite the fact that this speech was
delivered over half a century ago, in
1963, and was one of the most poignant
and influential moments in U.S. history,
his dream of racial equality has yet
to be fulfilled. To ask for the idea of
racial equality to be upheld is not an
exorbitant demand; the current state of
our nation, however, suggests that this
demand may have required more than
King expected.
Though MLK Day is recognized as
a federal holiday, Robert E. Lee Day is
recognized as a state holiday in several
southern states. The precise date of this
holiday varies by state but often falls
on the third Monday of January each
year, as does MLK Day. Lawmakers’
justification for this dual holiday is the
inconvenience of having two separate
holidays in January. In Alabama in
particular, the celebration of Lee is
even grander than that of King.
The antithesis of these two historical
figures is notable, with one being a
former Confederate general who fought
for the rights of white slave owners to
own Black people and the other being a
civil rights leader who lobbied tirelessly
for equal rights. The celebration of a
man who owned almost 200 slaves, who
fought against our nation’s foundations
of racial equality and who was indicted
for treason for attempting to divide the
country, is disgusting, especially when
it is seemingly designed to undermine
the celebration of his exact opposite.
Even if Robert E. Lee Day were
celebrated on a different date than
MLK Day, it would remain a major
issue. Its celebration exemplifies how
the Confederacy has remained an
influential and revered part of history
for many Americans. The Confederacy’s
persistence is further displayed in
the many United States citizens who
still proudly wave the Confederate
flag today. While those who fly this
flag may justify it on the grounds of
Southern pride, it undoubtedly still
carries the weight of racism and white
supremacy. The continuing veneration
of the Confederacy is just one of many
examples of the racial inequality that
still pervades our nation today.
While Dr. King proudly advocated
for rooting out racism, many people
seem to have forgotten MLK’s message
of the virtues of peaceful protest. While
the vast majority, 93%, of 2020’s Black
Lives Matter protests were peaceful,
the other 7% resulted in nine people
dying and over $1 billion of property
damage. However, it is arguable that
these violent riots are truly what
opened the eyes of many.
It’s easy to view this violence as an
unacceptable repudiation of MLK’s
message, a betrayal of the ideals that
inspired the Civil Rights Act in favor
of senseless violence. However, to
hold this view would be to ignore the
observations, and consequent changes
of belief, that King made later in life.
Toward the end of his lifetime, King’s
popularity waned. He was abandoned
by many of his white, moderate
supporters and expressed the fear that
white moderates might be a greater
enemy to him than radicals due to their
desire for order. These were the same
individuals that King excoriated in his
“Letter From a Birmingham Jail” for
preferring an “absence of tension” to
the “presence of justice.”
This attitude explains a speech he
gave right here in Michigan just three
weeks before his assassination, titled
“The Other America.” In this speech, he
denounces the lack of improvements in
standard of living for Black Americans
in the previous years, despite gaining
greater legal rights, and seemingly
addresses those who would denounce
riots as antithetical to his vision with
the phrase “a riot is the language of the
unheard.” Essentially, while he finds it
regrettable that riots continue to occur,
he recognizes that to condemn them
without first eliminating the injustice
that causes them is hypocritical and
ultimately futile.
It seems that the day King dreamed
of was further off than he may have
thought, and, even if conditions had
changed radically in the months
following this speech, his assassination
a short time later means that he would
never have been able to see it. The fact
that nearly 54 years later his dream
has still not been fulfilled has led many
to lose hope. This is a mistake. Our
generation is more socially aware than
any generation thus far. While we may
not have the capacity to change the
current state of affairs right now, we do
have the power to teach our children the
ideals of racial equality. Our children
can then pass these values to their own
children. This will eventually lead us to
a permanent escape from the society of
inequality we live in; we may even see
this change during our lifetime.
The issue of racial inequality is wide
ranging and multifaceted, so much so
that I have barely scraped the surface
of it. Rather than taking the day off of
classes to relax on Jan. 17, I encourage
you to really think about why we
have this day off. Reread King’s most
famous speech, “I Have A Dream,” and
appreciate not only his rhetoric but the
goal he had in mind.
After taking time to understand his
message, I ask that you consider how
you will spread it. At any instance of
injustice, we cannot hesitate to speak
up, we must take efforts in extending
this message to our friends, family and
other relations.
Our
generation,
especially
Michigan’s leaders and best, has the
capacity to make King’s dream come
true. In doing this, we are making the
dream of millions of other oppressed
people come true as well. When this day
finally comes, I am sure Martin Luther
King Jr. will be smiling from afar.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream is yet to be fulfilled
ANNA TRUPIANO
Opinion Columnist
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Design by Libby Chambers, Opinion Cartoonist