For Immediate Release: Monday, November 7, 2016
Montgomery County Councilmember
George Leventhal to lead forum on
the ‘Impact of Gun Violence on Public Health’
At 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, in Rockville, featured
speakers will address solutions to gun violence,
gun violence prevention,
lessons learned from other health initiatives
ROCKVILLE, Md., November 7, 2016—Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal, who chairs the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, will host a public forum on the “Impact of Gun Violence on Public Health.” The forum is open to the public and will be held at the Council Office Building in Rockville.
The forum will be in the Third Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building, which is located at 100 Maryland Ave. It will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM) on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon. It also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 .
The Montgomery County African American Health Program and the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP will join Councilmember Leventhal in hosting the event.
The evening’s featured speakers will include Councilmember Leventhal and Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association. Dr. Benjamin has written and spoken extensively about whether gun violence should be treated as a public health issue.
"The real tragedy here is that a lot of this is preventable. Seat belts and airbags and everything else we have in cars now has dramatically reduced deaths," Dr. Benjamin said recently in an interview with CBS Interactive. "We can do the same with firearms."
The forum will focus on:
· How gun violence impacts public health.
· Evidence-based, multi-faceted solutions to gun violence.
· Lessons learned from other public health initiatives.
· Gun violence prevention activities.
According to the American Public Health Association, gun violence is the leading cause of premature death in the United States. It attributes approximately 30,000 deaths and 60,000 injuries each year to gun violence.
“Gun violence clearly is impacting public health in this country to the degree that it is similar to the effects of a viral infection that is out of control,” said Councilmember Leventhal. “If it were a viral infection, we would put together our best medical research minds and work to find an answer. In the case of gun violence, we must put together the best and most influential minds in our communities to find an answer to it.”
A report updated on Nov. 4 from the nonpartisan research group Gun Violence Archive stated that gun violence has increased in the U.S. in 2016. As of October, more than 40 people every day have died in the U.S. by gunfire. That is an increase of three more deaths every day than in 2015 and seven more than in 2014.
More information on gun violence from the Gun Violence Archive can be seen at http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports .
# # # # Release ID: 16-350