Scott Mc Kiernan Presents zReportage.com Issue #921 Story of the Week: Published SUNDAY, December 31, 2023: ‘GUN VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC’ Pictures by 4 time Pulitzer Prize winning ZUMA Press photographer Carol Guzy: To lose a child is like a heart ripped from the chest – the hardest and most unnatural loss. That awful phone call in the middle of the night. Remembering their last words. Too often it is young people doing the shooting – and doing the dying. In record numbers. Historically underserved communities and racial inequities contribute to a culture of gun violence with a disproportionate number of African Americans dead or incarcerated. Counselors talk about a higher proportion of emotional trauma that perpetually injures the soul. It leads to a loss of hope that kills as much as any bullet. According to the Gun Violence Archive, to date there have been 650 mass shootings nationwide, which doesn’t include individual street incidents that occur daily in cities like DC and Baltimore. Total number of deaths by guns is 33,886 – 1,378 teens and 295 children under 12. Homicides in the nation’s capital surpassed 200 recently, up 35% from last year. As policy-makers debate gun control especially concerning assault weapons – the body count increases with innocents caught in the crossfire.
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