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Doctor recommends tackling gun violence from a public health perspective

wikipedia.com

Some researchers say the answer to reducing gun violence isn’t to treat it as a mental health problem or a criminal justice problem. Researchers focused on injury prevention say it should be treated as a public health problem.

       Injuries caused by car crashes, drowning, fires, and more have all been mitigated after they were treated as a public health issue.

Dr. Rebecca Cunningham is an injury prevention researcher at the University of Michigan. She says focusing on behavior, risk prevention factors and injury prevention science could help.

But before scientists can get there, there needs to be federal funding.

“We have never had a major improvement in a public health crisis in the country without substantial, federal investment.”

       Cunningham says there are some private organizations that could donate to the issue. But she says that type of money isn’t usually used for initial research – which is where they need to start.