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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
ACKNOWLEDGING INTERGOVERNMENTAL EFFORTS TOWARDS GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION & JUNE AS GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION MONTH
WHEREAS, a national coalition of organizations has designated the first Friday in June as National Gun Violence Awareness Day, in honor of Hadiya Pendleton, a teenager from Chicago who was shot and killed in 2013, as well as the many other gun violence victims and survivors, commemorating this day by wearing orange; and
WHEREAS, the American Medical Association (AMA) declared firearm-related violence a public health crisis in 2016 due to its status as a leading causes of intentional and unintentional injury and death in the United States, and continues to advocate for common sense polices, laws and resources that reduce gun violence; and
WHEREAS, the United States has significantly higher gun homicide and suicide rates than all other high-income countries; and
WHEREAS, in 2020, the most recent year for which complete CDC data is available, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the United States, the highest number of gun deaths ever in the U.S.; which includes gun homicides (19,384), gun suicides (24,292), and other types of gun-related deaths tracked by the CDC: unintentional (535), involving law enforcement (611) and undetermined cause (400); and
WHEREAS, nationally, firearm homicides increased by 35% in 2020; and
WHEREAS, gun violence has devastating consequences for young people and is now the leading cause of death among children, teens, and young adults under the age of 25; and
WHEREAS, gun violence is a complex problem fueled by systemic issues including historic disinvestment and structural racism, segregation, lack of access to healthcare, economic opportunity; and
WHEREAS, these systemic issues disproportionally impact communities of color; and
WHEREAS, Black males under the age of 35 are over 20 times more likely to be a victim of gun homicide than white males of the same age; and
WHEREAS, ac...
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