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The Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area has issued a new report on preventing gun violence, which asserts that mental health services should be treated as a crucial part of any solution and that the root causes, namely poverty and economic insecurity, should be addressed.
The consortium last June enlisted more than 100 experts in fields from public health to business to “identify the most practical, actionable, and preferably non-legislative solutions to reducing gun violence.” The report is the result of eight months of “open, and at times contentious,” debate among those experts.
The authors pointed out that research on gun violence reduction strategies is lacking and stressed that nonlegislative solutions “by no means replace the need for legislation.” They also noted the experts were in “near consensus” on the benefits of pairing legislative action with measures that target social causes like mental health and poverty.
The recommendations come on the heels of one of the worst years for gun violence in U.S. history, marked by the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., that left 21 victims dead—19 of them students from age 9 to 11. It also marks the end of a month marred by a series of mass shootings, including one campus shooting at Michigan State University in which three students were killed.
Consortium president and CEO Andrew Flagel wrote in a statement that the initiative “reflects higher education at its very best: bringing experts with disparate backgrounds and beliefs together to address our most challenging problems.”
He was grateful to the participants, he said—“especially as a Michigan State alumnus.”
