The study, published by JAMA Network Open and conducted by sociologists and criminologists from universities in Colorado and Minnesota, "reveals widespread direct exposure to and experiences with shootings in the United States," which, it emphasizes, "have become a significant public health problem" in the country.
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Academic work reveals other striking figures, such as that around 75% of those who were not injured have suffered anxiety, and that more than half of those who reported witnessing a firearms incident did so in the last ten years.
The study's lead author, David Pyrooz, a PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder, said in a separate statement that the analysis establishes the existence of a generation, one that grew up after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, that has a very different set of experiences than older people and that their exposure to shootings has become normalized.
According to data released Wednesday by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, 2,687 people have died in gun-related incidents in the U.S. since the beginning of the year, and 4,433 have been injured, while there have been 48 mass shootings, a term that includes at least four people injured or killed, not counting the assailant.
