Penn psychiatry professor Paul Kettl is leading a push for a public health approach to gun violence prevention, proposing that societal measures, such as stricter gun control laws and increased mental health resources in schools, could make a significant impact. Kettl, in an opinion piece for The Washington Post, argues that focusing solely on the mental health of potential shooters doesn’t address the broader dangers posed by gun violence, which researchers now frame as a public health crisis.
Kettl’s advocacy comes alongside distressing statistics about gun violence, particularly following incidents like the July shooting in Philadelphia’s Grays Ferry neighborhood that left three dead and multiple injured. He highlights the need for community-based programs and stresses that assigning blame to the families of shooters merely diverts attention from more effective solutions. Kettl also critiques cuts to federal funding for mental health research as detrimental to understanding and preventing violence effectively.
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