AAA Grieves for Victims at UNCC
Once again calls for Congress to commit to gun violence research
Today, we share our sorrow and deepest condolences with the families and friends of those who lost their lives, as well as the victims who survived last night’s senseless shooting on the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (UNCC) campus.
While every act of gun violence is tragic, this particular act especially hits home with the American Anthropological Association and our members. Sources say that last semester the suspect, Trystan Terrell, withdrew from all but one of his classes. It was that class - Anthropology - that he went to in the Kennedy Hall building armed with a pistol.
Once again, we woke up to the all-too-familiar news of gun violence and asked ourselves the same question we have asked all too often: what is it going to take to stop this mayhem? Mass shootings have become about as consistent as the rise of the sun – after being locked in the Student Union with others for protection, one student reported that, for the most part, it felt “like a normal high school lockdown.” Normal?
The AAA refuses to accept this! In the face of the unabated torrent of shootings in the US, we call on our colleagues to examine the ways in which our research can contribute to eliminating the health and safety menace posed by firearms. We also once again call on the US Congress to lift restrictions that prevent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from conducting gun violence research and maintaining comprehensive gun violence data. These restrictions obstruct the development and implementation of policies and programs that foster gun safety.
We have issued far too many statements in recent years where we just fill in the blanks with Sandy Hook, Orlando, Charleston, Las Vegas, and now Charlotte to name just a few. Yes, today we will grieve, but let us turn our energy to creating a new “normal,” one that includes research, teaching, and action that will lead to evidence-based policy improvements to reduce gun violence, more effectively diagnosing and treating mental illness, and saving lives.
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