By Rebecca Parnass
The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace hosted a symposium on processing and preventing gun violence in America on Nov. 12.
The organization hosts several events during the school year, all focusing on how to make our world a better place.
The symposium featured two speakers, professors Thomas Abt and Jaclyn Schildkraut.
Abt is the founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction, as well as an associate research professor in the University of Maryland’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Schildkraut is the executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
Professor Hoda Mahmoudi, director of the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace, introduced Schildkraut, citing her as an expert on mass shootings and school safety.
“Dr. Schildkraut’s research is regularly cited by local, regional and national media,” Mahmoudi said.
Schildkraut began her talk by defining what a mass shooting is.
“Mass shooting has a very different meaning than it used to,” Schildkraut said.
Schildkraut said that a mass shooting is defined as a planned act of violence.
“It’s absolutely important we account for everybody when we talk about those affected,” Schildkraut said. “We need to distinguish between premeditated attacks and a fight that escalates into a shooting.”
According to Schildkraut, there have been 455 mass public shootings between 1966 and 2023, and 1,635 people have been killed.
“These numbers don’t truly capture the full amount of people affected,” said Schildkraut.
Schildkraut explained that she grew up in Parkland, Florida, where, in 2018, a gunman opened fire in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 and wounding 17 others.
“There is a widespread impact that encompasses and engulfs entire communities,” Schildkraut said. “There is this idea that ‘it can never happen here.’ It breeds an idea that mass shootings are someone else’s problem, and we can’t let that be.”
Thirty-six bills have been introduced in Congress, and zero have passed, according to Schildkraut. As of 2024, nine states and the District of Columbia have assault weapon bans, according to Everytown Research & Policy. However, Schildkraut insisted that more needs to be done to prevent these tragic events from occurring.
“Universal background checks have 87-95% support by the public,” said Schildkraut. “Until they are the law of the land, we need to focus on prevention.”
The second half of the symposium was led by Abt, whose talk focused on saving lives through the use of science to stop violence.
Abt wrote “Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence–and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets,” which details strategies for stopping urban violence.
“When we use evidence-based approaches, violence-reduction strategies, we can persuade people not to buy guns,” Abt said.
The strategies for decreasing violence, according to Abt, include balancing the work of law enforcement with intervention and prevention directly in communities that are at the epicenter of violence.
Featured Image: A screenshot taken during a virtual symposium covering gun violence in America on Nov. 12. Screenshot taken by Rebecca Parnass.