Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
More Details Released On Florida Gunman's Mental Health Past
The New York Times: Grief And Anger Continue To Reverberate From Jacksonville Shootings
It was previously reported that Mr. Palmeter was held for involuntary psychiatric evaluation in 2017, when he was 15, and that a year earlier the police received a domestic violence call involving him and his brother. On Monday, those police reports were released. (Betts andM anna, 8/28)
The Washington Post: Jacksonville’s Black Community Demands Response To Gunman’s Deadly Attack
Saturday’s racially motivated attack at a Dollar General store in a Black neighborhood in Jacksonville — by a young White gunman armed with a assault-style rifle emblazoned with swastikas — has provoked fear and unease among African Americans here, but also a swell of anger. “The rhetoric we’ve seen from this governor and state leadership — folks are angry,” said Michael Sampson of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee. ... “It’s been a war on us and a war on our community.” (Shammas, 8/28)
NBC News: Jacksonville Shooting Brings Back Dark Memories For Buffalo Residents
A racist attack that killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday resurfaced anguish and frustration among residents of Buffalo, New York, whose community was also altered after a gunman opened fire at a Tops supermarket in May 2022. The shooter in Jacksonville, a 21-year-old white man, “hated Black people” and left behind a vitriolic white supremacist document, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said. In Buffalo, the 18-year-old gunman responsible for killing 10 Black people orchestrated the attack “for the future of the White race,” according to a federal criminal complaint. (Bellamy and Ede-Osifo, 8/29)
Vox: The Latest Mass Shooting In Jacksonville Puts Focus On America’s Unique, Enduring Gun Problem
Gun control opponents have typically framed the gun violence epidemic in the US as a symptom of a broader mental health crisis. But every country has people with mental health issues and extremists; those problems aren’t unique. What is unique is the US’s expansive view of civilian gun ownership, ingrained in politics, in culture, and in the law since the nation’s founding, and a national political process that has so far proved incapable of changing that norm. “America is unique in that guns have always been present, there is wide civilian ownership, and the government hasn’t claimed more of a monopoly on them,” said David Yamane, a professor at Wake Forest University who studies American gun culture. (Narea, Zhou and Millhiser, 8/27)
Several are dead after shootings in North Carolina and Kentucky —
The New York Times: U.N.C. Faculty Member Is Fatally Shot In Lab
An assailant fatally shot a faculty member in a laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday, forcing the campus into lockdown for several hours as students barricaded themselves in classrooms, dorms and bathrooms, the authorities said. ... Chief James and Kevin M. Guskiewicz, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, did not name the faculty member who was killed, saying that relatives were still being notified. (Levenson and Holpuch, 8/28)
USA Today: 2 Dead, 5 Injured After Sunday Morning Shooting At Louisville Restaurant
Two people died and five were injured Sunday after an early morning shooting at a restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky in what police said appears to have started between restaurant-goers and people on the street. 9Johnson, 8/28)
Also —
The New York Times: Tennessee G.O.P. Again Silences Democratic Lawmaker Justin Jones
The uproar came when Speaker Cameron Sexton and chamber leaders decided that Mr. Jones, for the second time in the day, had breached the rules of the House by speaking out of turn. This time, Mr. Jones had suggested, during a debate about increasing the number of police officers in schools, that the state’s resources should be focused instead on mental health professionals and teacher pay — comments Mr. Sexton said were off-topic. ... In March, an assailant opened fire at the Covenant School, a Christian school in Nashville, killing three 9-year-olds and three adults. Many of the school’s grieving parents have spent the summer quietly lobbying lawmakers for modest gun reform and a direct response to their school’s suffering. (Cochrane, 8/28)
NBC4 Washington: Schools Using AI To Prevent Gun Violence
In Maryland, Charles County is the first school district in the state to use AI to detect guns and potential threats. Charles County Public Schools has seen an increase in weapons found over the past two school years, jumping 25% from 70 to 88. "We have to prepare for everything. We have to be right all the time," said Jason Stoddard, the director of school safety and security for the county. (Wilkins, Yarborough and Jones, 8/28)
CNN: Shooting Survivors Have ‘Distressingly High’ Risk Of Repeat Firearm Injury, Study Finds, Especially Young Black Males
Along with the physical and emotional effects, survivors of firearm injury carry a “distressingly high” risk of being shot again, Dr. Kristen Mueller, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and others wrote in the new study. About 1 of every 14 gunshot victims will be harmed by a firearm again within a year, according to the new research. Within five years, that risk rises to about 1 in 8, and it jumps to about 1 in 6 after eight years. “That is pretty comparable to your risk of a second heart attack or a second stroke,” said Mueller, the lead author of the new study. (Christensen, 8/28)
BBC News: How Many US Mass Shootings Have There Been In 2023?
There have been more than 470 mass shootings across the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed. Their figures include shootings that happen in homes and in public places. For each of the last three years there have been more than 600 mass shootings - almost two a day on average. (8/28)
