Recognizing gun violence as a public health crisis in Philadelphia.

WHEREAS, Gun violence is a pervasive and devastating public health danger in the United States. Approximately 115,000 people are shot every year, resulting in 34,000 deaths, including 11,500 homicides and 21,000 suicides. Gun violence results in around 90 deaths every single day in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Every day 7 children and teens die from gun violence and another 46 are injured. Annually, 2,600 children and teens die and 13,000 are injured; and

WHEREAS, Over half of firearm deaths nationally each year are suicides; and

WHEREAS, In Philadelphia, there have been more than 14,500 shootings since 2006, resulting in a rate of one shooting every six hours. Around 80% of homicide victims over the past decade were killed with a firearm, resulting in more than 2,600 deaths; and

WHEREAS, The American Public Health Association has called for strong action on gun violence. The APHA Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin, MD, has stated “Our nation’s epidemic of gun violence exacts far too high a toll on the health of our communities”; and

WHEREAS, The American College of Physicians has classified firearm violence as a public health epidemic since 1995; and

WHEREAS, On April, 6, 2016, 141 health care, public health, and science and research organizations including the National Association of Social Workers, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the National Association of Medical Examiners, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Psychological Association, the American Pediatric Association, the American Public Health Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, signed on to a letter calling for an end to a Congressional rider restricting gun violence research by the CDC, and stating that “gun violence is a serious public health epidemic resulting in the senseless deaths of an average of 91 Americans, and another 108 gun injuries, each and every day”; and

WHEREAS, In June of 2016, in the wake of the shootings in Orlando, the American Medical Association joined numerous other major public health organizations by adopting policy calling gun violence “a public health crisis”; and

WHEREAS, We on this Council recognize the pervasive and devastating public health danger posed by gun violence; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY VIRTUE OF THIS CITATION, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby declares gun violence a public health crisis in Philadelphia.

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