Gun violence is a public health issue as it affects entire communities. Not only are those who were shot affected, but their family and friends are also affected. Shootings take place in many public areas ranging from schools, movie theaters, and churches, putting at risk the public’s health. According to the American Public Health Association, gun violence is one of the leading causes of premature deaths in the United States.1 The number of mass shootings in the U.S. continues to increase, and not much is being done about it. Using a public health approach to combat gun violence can prevent premature deaths. Life Camp:Peace is a Lifestyle, a non profit organization, is making an active effort on combating gun violence and trauma by using a public health approach.
Norris Batts, one of our guest speakers for this course, gave a presentation on Life Camp and
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They want to improve neighborhoods by making neighborhoods safer and violence free. Their approach is community based, as they see that some communities are more impacted by gun violence than others, such as low income neighborhoods. Batts compared guns to a virus; explaining that similar to how a virus finds a host and takes over the body, infecting and replicating until the body is destroyed, when a gun is exposed to a community, it takes over the person with the gun and soon everyone else in the community is involved with gun violence. When a shooting takes place, only those directly involved are given attention, however, the family and friends, the bystanders who were also exposed to this trauma are now left alone with no assistance. The built up anger and emotions from the loved ones can result in more problems and shootings, which is why Life Camp responds to the family and provides them with