Nearly 2 in 3 Californian adults have had at least indirect exposure to [gun]violence.

[AndyS]

Nearly 2 in 3 Californian adults have had at least indirect exposure to [gun]violence. That’s according to a study from the University of California-Davis Firearm Violence Research Center that sought to quantify how broad the social effects of gun violence might reverberate out from direct or witnessed victimization. The study was based on a state-representative survey conducted in July 2020 and assessed six possible indirect experiences of violence people have had, ranging from gunshots occuring in one’s neighborhood to knowing someone who had been a gun violence victim. Extrapolating from the sample, the researchers estimate that more than 3 million Californians had more than three experiences of violence over a year; about 5 million personally know more than one person who has been intentionally shot; and 3 million know people at risk of committing violence. “Our main conclusion is that almost everybody is touched by this, and we’re a state with relatively low rates of firearm violence,” lead author Garen Wintemute told Crime Report. “I would expect the situation would be worse in many other states.”

https://injepijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40621-021-00367-1

It's like Six Degrees of Separation. Guns and Gun Violence has become so pervasive that almost everyone knows someone who has been directly touched by it. Think about yourself and all the people you know. It's not just adults, think about all the children who routinely do Active Shooter Drills. As a Grandfather of three I can attest to the effect it has on them.

For my own part my Sister in Law's son committed suicide with a gun. A close acquaintance's daughter attempted suicide with a gun he kept for home defense (had it not been for his military training in dealing with sucking chest wounds she would have succeeded). I personally have had a gun pointed at me while the user tried to clear a jam by repeatedly working the action and pulling the trigger (fortunately it was a very stubborn jam).

If you are not one of those 2 in 3 the powers that work the cosmos have been kind to you. Next time you're in a group of people look to the one next to you on either side and think about it.

[CountAllVotes]

1. Just 2 out of 3?

I personally know of three murders.
One accident.
One suicide.

Isn't that too many for just one Californian?

[AndyS]

2. That is too many for anyone.

As is only one.

It doesn't have to be this way.

[CountAllVotes]

5. I am anti-gun

Needless to say!

I hate hate hate the the fucking things!

[Initech]

3. And to even suggest doing something about is akin to tyranny and Nazi Germany.

[MenloParque]

4. Scary! Xmas shopping Union Square San Francisco. Smash and grab bandits aimed a pistol at my niece

As they exited the store in a smash and grab in broad daylight. These were teenagers! In Oakland last year as I was walking to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant we walked upon a young guy stealing a car with a Glock in hand and his girl had a short barrel Ar15 with a can on the muzzle. Not feeling safe in California Bay Area and SoCal cities so much. I’m afraid younger people are either ignorant of the gun laws or just do not care of consequences.

[madville]

10. I lived near Oakland for two years

Lived on Alameda Island which was nice, but visiting Oakland to go to an A’s game, or the Home Depot near the coliseum, or to catch the BART always felt kind of like being in a Mad Max movie lol.

[Zeitghost]

6. If they're counting hearing gun shots

I'm surprised it's that low.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Thank you for this timely and important message, Andy.

I was trying to think if I'd had indirect exposure to gun violence, and the only incident that I could remember was that our stock broker at the time had been shot and wounded by someone targeting the brokerage house where he worked. He survived.

And then I read further in your post to where you talked about suicide, and I remembered my brother-in-law. He'd committed suicide with his own pistol. It was shocking and my husband and I had a very hard time getting over it.

I now think that those are the only 2 examples of indirect exposure in my life.

[Lucid Dreamer]

8. Punch line from study

Summary of Table 4:

Total number of experiences of violence (EVs) by respondents’
age, race/ethnicity, gender and firearm ownership.

Least endangered characteristics: [least exposure]
60+, Asian-American, male, firearm owner

Highest endangered characteristics: [most exposure]
18-29, Multiracial or other, female, non-owner living with owner

[cinematicdiversions]

9. gunshots occuring in one's neighborhood????

That is a silly bar. I mean, are we talking about yahoos on New Years or 4th of July? Then yes, I guess I live in a state of victimhood. Please.

We do ourselves no favors exaggerating the problem for clicks and outrage. Much rather see honest science.

[AndyS]

13. read the study. nt

[SYFROYH]

11. Even those of us who have a more liberal view of the RKBA want to see gun violence reduced.

[Elessar Zappa]

12. My dad's best friend was murdered.

It was a case of mistaken identity. We need much stronger gun control, including magazine limits, a ban on assault rifles, a longer waiting period and universal background checks.

[Journeyman]

14. The woman who raised me was gunned down by a 14-year-old carjacker . . .

pulled from her car at a stoplight, she was pistol-whipped, then shot twice through her left eye.

One of my very good friends had his car windows shot out as he drove down Compton Boulevard.

A woman I knew from high school was killed, along with her father, by a crazed neighbor who believed they were the devil incarnate. (He did this to "save" her three-year-old son.)

A neighbor ate his shotgun.

A drive-by gunman shot at our house a few years ago, blew out the driver's side window of my car. (It was a BB gun, but still . . .)

And like the OP, AndyS, I see the effect of the drills and paranoia on my grandchildren.

I don't know what the answer is. I take heart that 100 years ago very few people felt a need to defend the 2nd Amendment. Today its defenders have to work at it 24-7. Maybe that's progress.

[Dial H For Hero]

15. I know no one who has experienced a gun-related violent act.