Understanding Gun Violence

In his “Understanding Gun Violence” series contribution, Jooyoung Lee poses the question: “What might gun violence research look like if we centered our analysis on victims?” In addressing the matter, he focuses on ethnographic approaches and the concept of “social loss” that extends beyond individual victims to a whole range of effects on families and neighborhoods. Drawing on his own extensive research in Philadelphia, Lee engages with victims as they move from the hospital to their homes and communities. In one instance, the connection between pain management due to gun violence and the opioid crisis becomes clear.

In the latest essay in our “Understanding Gun Violence” series, Laurence Ralph turns our attention to how shooting victims, and their communities, live with the consequences of gun violence in inner cities. Ralph brings the series to a focus on the “normalization—or taken-for-granted quality—of urban violence,” especially via guns. Through the story of a disabled resident of Chicago who, in the wake of his participation in gangs, takes on the mission of reducing recourse to guns in his neighborhood, the essay provides a lens onto the oft-neglected dimensions of race, poverty, and what the author calls the “crippling currency of obligation” among gang members.

Nina Vinik’s contribution to the “Understanding Gun Violence” series highlights the importance of research that engages with gun owners and users. Drawing on recent research supported by her program at the Joyce Foundation, and other findings, Vinik calls attention to two key dimensions of gun violence: guns in the home and suicides, and illegal guns and homicides. In both cases, deeper knowledge of why people own guns and their perceptions (and misperceptions) about risk and safety can inform approaches to reducing death and injury.