Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Violence Grows, 63% Of Americans Want Gun Laws To Change, Poll Finds
The Hill: Americans’ Dissatisfaction With Gun Laws At New High: Gallup Poll
A majority of Americans surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with current gun laws in the U.S. amid a recent string of mass shootings affecting the country, according to a new Gallup poll. The poll, published Wednesday, found that 63 percent of respondents said they are dissatisfied with the nation’s laws and policies on firearms, while 34 percent of those surveyed said the opposite. (Oshin, 2/15)
USA Today: Mass Shootings In US 2023: 71 In Total After Michigan State Shooting
Nationwide, there have been a total of 71 mass shootings this year-to-date. "There's not been any year that we've had 67 in six weeks" this early in the year, said Mark Bryant, executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, on Tuesday morning. By Tuesday evening, the number of mass shootings reported and verified by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit formed in 2013 to track gun violence in the U.S, increased to 71. (Tanner, 2/15)
Also —
The Wall Street Journal: Shooting Rattles El Paso Mall Next To Scene Of 2019 Rampage
One person was killed and three were wounded in a shooting at El Paso’s Cielo Vista Mall Wednesday evening—steps away from the Walmart where an attacker killed 23 people in 2019. Police in the West Texas border city said reports of an active shooter near the mall’s food court came in at 5:05 p.m. local time. An off-duty officer at the mall was at the scene of the shooting within three minutes and detained one suspect, interim police Chief Peter Pacillas said. A second suspect was later taken into custody as well. (Findell, 2/15)
AP: White Supremacist Gets Life In Prison For Buffalo Massacre
A white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday after relatives of his victims confronted him with pain and rage caused by his racist attack. Anger briefly turned physical at Payton Gendron’s sentencing when a victim’s family member rushed at him from the audience. The man was quickly restrained; prosecutors later said he wouldn’t be charged. The proceeding then resumed with an emotional outpouring from people who lost loved ones or were themselves wounded in the attack. (Thompson and Peltz, 2/15)
More on the gun violence epidemic —
Detroit Free Press: Faith Leaders Push For Gun Control Laws After Michigan State Shooting
"Tonight we pray, tomorrow we change our culture, we change our laws," said the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, the Rt. Rev. Bonnie Perry, said. "I am so mad and so sad that we have yet another shooting. ... We know that gun deaths is the leading cause of death for young people in the state of Michigan and in the United States of America." (Warikoo, 2/16)
The New York Times: At Michigan State, Balancing Freedom And Safety In The Wake Of Tragedy
While elementary, middle and high schools in the United States have been transformed in the last generation — with only moderate success — by metal detectors, new security systems, increased screening for visitors and the installation of locks on classroom doors to evade mass shooters, the same changes have not come to colleges and universities. “What we do and what is acceptable from K through 12 is not necessarily acceptable when you get to the college level,” said Anthony Gentile, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and security adviser to the Newtown Public School District, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre occurred in 2012. “Frankly, anybody can drift onto one of the campuses and do what happened the other day.” (Bosman, Jimenez and McKinley Jr. 2/15)
The Washington Post: MSU Students Grew Up On Lockdown Drills. The Shooting Is A Call To Action.
At 21, Zoe Beers has already survived two school shootings. The first was in California when she was 8. The second was this week, as a gunman stormed the Michigan State campus, killing three students and wounding five more. Now, she said, she’s had enough. “No one I know understands what it is like for me, what it is like for us,” she said. “Things needed to change 20 years ago, and they absolutely need to now.” (Rosenzweig-Ziff, Thebault and Khan, 2/15)
ABC News: 5 Years After Parkland Shooting, Teachers Struggle With Ramifications Of Gun Violence
Five years later, the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is still very much on the mind of English teacher Sarah Lerner. Lerner was teaching at the school on Feb. 14, 2018, when gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people -- 14 students and three staff members -- at the Parkland, Florida, high school. It was the second-deadliest shooting at a K-12 school at the time, a total since surpassed by the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. She still struggles with the trauma. "Anytime the fire alarm goes off or ... even just a lockdown drill, it all comes flooding back to you," Lerner told ABC News. (El-Bawab and DiMartino, 2/14)
