October 26, 2022 – David Hemenway of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is featured in two podcast episodes focused on the public health dangers of guns in America and possible solutions to the problem.
Titled “Beyond Uvalde,” the episodes are part of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ Colloquy podcast. The title refers to the May 24, 2022, school shooting at a Texas elementary school that left 19 students and two teachers dead and another 17 wounded.
In Part 1 of the series, posted on October 7, Hemenway—professor of health policy, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, and one of the nation’s leading experts on guns and public health— outlines the scope of the problem. For example, Americans own nearly 400 million guns, there were over 45,000 gun deaths in 2020, and, among people who own handguns, there is a dramatically elevated risk of suicide.
In Part 2, posted on October 21, Hemenway talks about how to address the health dangers posed by guns in the U.S., even though society is politically polarized. He said that focusing on areas of common concern is key, even in places where gun rights are sacrosanct, and added that there’s also work to be done in states where guns are more strictly regulated.
Listen to the podcasts: Beyond Uvalde, Part I; Beyond Uvalde, Part II