Prevention Before Blame
Abstract
Prevention Before Blame Private Guns, Public Health by David Hemenway (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004), 304 pp., $27.95 In 2001, the most recent year for which data are available, 29,573 people in the United States died of gunshot wounds. There is good news in this number: 29,573 is a substantial drop from a high of 39,595 fatal gunshot wounds in 1993. Nevertheless, each week nearly 600 U.S. families make funeral preparations for a loved one who was killed with a firearm. Most of these deaths, contrary to popular perception, are suicides—16,869, or 57 percent of all fatal gunshot wounds, in 2001. Relatively few—802, or less than 3 percent of all fatal gunshot wounds in 2001—are unintentional. Until recently, assault-related shootings were perceived solely as the purview of law enforcement; self-directed shootings were thought of as a mental health issue only; and unintentional shootings were considered an accident, a random event that little could have been done to prevent. In addition, research on homicide and suicide focused largely on risk factors associated with becoming a victim or perpetrator—in other words, on the individuals on either end of the weapon. Enter public health. Ripe with successes as diverse