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Dear colleagues,
Like you, I am horrified by the events that took place in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. It is unbearable that, for the second time in recent years, elementary school children and their teachers have been gunned down in the very place they should have been safest.
As the leading cause of death among children ages one and older, gun violence is a public health issue and must be addressed as such. Efforts toward the reduction of gun violence must emanate equally from perspectives of public health, and not just from those of the public policy arena. As with the COVID-19 pandemic, we must seek to understand the causes and search for ways to mitigate the risk.
Efforts to outlaw specific weapons, among other measures, have been proven to reduce the threat of gun violence and directly save lives. There is no question that, in order to prevent the devastating acts of violence that continue to take place nearly every day in the United States, these measures must be enacted.
I implore you to contact your representatives and local public health officials today and demand they set out immediately to address the issue of gun violence. The situation cannot be more dire.
Sincerely,
Dean Ayman El-Mohandes
