Support for LAist comes from
Become a sponsor
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Donate
Stay Connected

LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network.

Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen
Donate
Podcasts Take Two
Should gun violence be considered a public health issue?
solid orange rectangular banner
()
Take Two Logo
Jan 28, 2013
Listen • 4:04
Should gun violence be considered a public health issue?
Gun violence will be the focus of a joint hearing at the California state capitol on Tuesday.California lawmakers have previously looked at banning certain weapons or limiting ammunition.
File: An LAPD officer holds a collected assault weapon during the Gun Buyback Program event in the Van Nuys area on Dec. 26, 2012.
An LAPD officer hold a collected assault weapon during the Gun Buyback Program event in the Van Nuys area of north Los Angeles on December 26, 2012. By noon the LAPD had collected more then 420 handguns, rifles, shotguns and assault rifles. Los Angeles' no-questions-asked gun buyback event, where weapons could be exchanged for up to $200, was held five months early after the Connecticut school shooting. Critics question the effectiveness of gun buyback events, arguing that the weapons surrendered tend to be the least likely to be used in criminal activities, such as guns which are old or malfunctioning.
(
Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images
)

Gun violence will be the focus of a joint hearing at the California state capitol on Tuesday.California lawmakers have previously looked at banning certain weapons or limiting ammunition.

Gun violence will be the focus of a joint hearing at the California state capitol on Tuesday.
California lawmakers have previously looked at banning certain weapons or limiting ammunition.

But some researchers suggest that the problem of gun violence could be addressed from a public health perspective. The California Report's Health Reporter, Mina Kim, looks at this approach in the third part of a series examining gun violence and communities.