New Gun Violence Advisory from HHS: How Storytellers Can Help
June 26, 2024
This month, the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory on firearm violence, officially declaring gun violence in America to be a public health crisis.
The landmark document outlines the cascading harm gun violence has across society — explaining how not only are those who lose their lives impacted, but so are those injured, direct witnesses, loved ones, those exposed in affected communities such as schools, and everyone who experiences collective fear after seeing these traumatic events play out in the news, on social media, and beyond. The report also highlighted staggering statistics around the ongoing effects gun violence has on young people specifically:
Since 2020, firearm‑related injury has been the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents (ages 1–19), surpassing motor vehicle crashes, cancer, and drug overdose and poisoning;
The rate of firearm-related suicide increased by 20% across the population, with the highest increases among younger people;
56% of unintentional firearm deaths among children and adolescents happened in their own home; and
About half of 14 to 17‑year‑olds in the U.S. worry about school shootings, and nearly 6 in 10 report that they “have recently thought about what would happen if a person with a gun entered” their school or a school nearby.
These findings are in line with research conducted by us here at the Center for Scholars & Storytellers, where in one survey 11th and 12th graders who showed high amounts of fear about shootings and violence in schools were also more likely to report having an anxiety disorder 6 months later.
Media industry professionals have an important role to play when it comes to spreading accurate information, raising awareness, and moving hearts and minds towards meaningful action around public health crises like firearm violence. This is especially true when it comes to young people, who consume entertainment through devices at truly unprecedented rates, with some reports estimating that teens spend up to 9 hours a day in front of screens.
For storytellers who want to help, we’ve created a tip-sheet with 15 research-based insights on how to responsibly create content related to gun violence. We hope you’ll join us in sharing this resource far and wide, so that, collectively, we can continue to harness the power of storytelling to positively impact the lives of kids, teens and young adults everywhere.
