By Burgundi Allison and David Brotherton, Photo: Amy Osborne/AFP/Getty Images, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, November 17, 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic is a brutal reminder of how interconnected our world is and how reliant we are on each other to keep our communities healthy and safe. Much the same can be said about another public health crisis — gun violence.
We are heartbroken by the increase in gun violence during the pandemic, which in 2020 rose to its highest level in decades, according to a Washington Post analysis. This year appears to be even worse, with an average of 54 lives lost a day through June. That’s 14 more deaths every day than the average over the previous six years.
As a nation, we cannot let heartbreak turn into frustration and inaction. Covid-19 has exacerbated the conditions that lead to gun violence, including pervasive economic hardship, record increases in gun sales, and social isolation. But it has also provided deeper understanding about potential solutions. We believe the insights from one public-health epidemic can help end another. While the pandemic offers many relevant lessons to draw on, we want to focus on one: the powerful combination of policy change and community action.
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