This edited collection of data and perspectives takes a fresh approach to gun violence prevention by addressing the question, “why are we losing the war on gun violence in America?” Although successes and failures in the prevention of gun violence are examined, it is a war we are losing, due to restrictions on research funding, entrenched historical perspectives, structural violence, and perhaps differing priorities or views on what is right or wrong. Gun violence is a public health crisis. It remains politicized and has been paralyzed with inaction. In the chapters, the authors write candidly about the challenges that have thwarted gun violence prevention, as well as highlight possible strategies for progress to save lives. Critical areas explored among the chapters include: Gun Violence, Structural Violence, and Social Justice School Shootings: Creating Safer Schools Mental Illness and Gun Violence Understanding the Political Divide in Gun Policy Support The Second Amendment and the War on Guns The Impact of Policy and Law Enforcement Strategies on Reducing Gun Violence in America Youth Gun Violence Prevention Organizing Smart Guns Don't Kill People With this compendium, the editors and authors hope to bridge the growing gap between groups or ideologies, and create common ground to discuss workable solutions. Why We Are Losing the War on Gun Violence in the United States is essential reading for a broad audience including practitioners, academics, researchers, students, policy-makers, and other professionals in public health, behavioral sciences (including social work and psychology), social sciences, health sciences, public policy, political science, and law, as well as any readers interested in the path to decreasing gun violence in America.

"A compilation of services and tributes as given in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on the life, character, and public service of the late Senator Robert Francis Kennedy."--T.p. verso.

Mass shootings have become the “new normal” in American life. The same can be said for the public debate that follows a shooting: blame is cast, political postures are assumed, but no meaningful policy changes are enacted. In After Gun Violence, Craig Rood argues that this cycle is the result of a communication problem. Without advocating for specific policies, Rood examines how Americans talk about gun violence and suggests how we might discuss the issues more productively and move beyond our current, tragic impasse. Exploring the ways advocacy groups, community leaders, politicians, and everyday citizens talk about gun violence, Rood reveals how the gun debate is about far more than just guns. He details the role of public memory in shaping the discourse, showing how memories of the victims of gun violence, the Second Amendment, and race relations influence how gun policy is discussed. In doing so, Rood argues that forgetting and misremembering this history leads interest groups and public officials to entrenched positions and political failure and drives the public further apart. Timely and innovative, After Gun Violence advances our understanding of public discourse in an age of gridlock by illustrating how public deliberation and public memory shape and misshape one another. It is a search to understand why public discourse fails and how we can do better.

John Wheeler had done more than his fair share time fighting Muslim extremist and terrorist as a member of the Army Rangers. He had not been there when his parents and grandfather died. It had nearly cost him the love of his life, his loving wife. All he wants now is to live a quiet life as a farmer on land that his family has owned since 1800. Fate had other ideas as a land developer sees his land as the best place to build a gated community with a private golf course and lake. Now, John finds himself in an armed standoff with state police who are using eminent domain to give his family land to the developers. He also finds himself trying to come to grips with a country that seems to be changing faster than he can understand and a conscience that can't live with another good man's death on his soul. The balance-between the duty he feels to his family's history and country-pulls on his soul and feelings of standing up for what he knows and believes. He is starting to accept the changes that the future will always bring.

How churches can work to stem gun violence Over 300 Episcopalians came together in Oklahoma City in April 2014 to renew their commitment to the Gospel call to make peace in a world of violence. Through deep conversation, prayer, and skill building the event empowered the Episcopal Church to address violence and reclaim its role in society as workers for nonviolence and peace. This book is one of the outcomes of that event - resources to help dioceses, congregations, and individuals reclaim the Gospel message of peace for our society. Divided into four sections - Proclaim: The Gospel, Sustain: The Witness, Reclaim: The Response and Our Prayers - topics are offered in the areas of advocacy, education, liturgy, and pastoral care that our Church can use to address the culture of violence within and outside of the Church, the reader will hear the Gospel proclaimed through personal stories of witness from key leaders in the Church today, including Justin Welby, Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Ed Konieczny, Eugene Sutton, Mark Beckwith, Kay Collier McLaughlin, James Michael Dowd, Matthew Ellis, and others. Topics include: systemic/root cause of violence, suicide/mental health, hate crimes, gang violence, race and violence, advocacy, gun violence, bullying, gender-based violence, and non-violence. Reflection questions follow each chapter with a comprehensive study guide for group use included.

In this book Svi Shapiro explores the ideological and attitudinal functions of schools, looking especially at what is called the 'hidden curriculum.' He offers both an analysis of the role of education in producing and maintaining attitudes and values that contribute to our competitive, socially unequal, instrumental, consumerist, and self-oriented culture and a radically different vision for what our schools should be about--a vision that focuses on education's role in supporting a more critically reflective, socially responsible, and compassionate culture. Federal and state legislation have propelled schools today in the direction of an increasingly test-driven, instrumental, and individually competitive regime. Under these legislative mandates, schools are increasingly alienating and stressful places for both students and teachers. Most disturbing is that this form of education is not conducive to providing young people with the capacity to cope with the moral, cultural, spiritual, and political challenges of the world they inhabit. More than only offering a critique of schools, Shapiro proposes a counter-vision that can lead to a different kind of culture and society, and he discusses strategies for advocating and implementing it. Written in a style that is very accessible to a wide range of readers, Losing Heart: The Moral and Spiritual Miseducation of America's Children is also carefully researched and draws on relevant theory to make a strong case. This book speaks to a wide range of readers, including academics and students in education, sociology, anthropology, political science, and cultural studies; public school professionals; and the general public interested in education. It will appeal to faculty in schools of education who are looking for a text that offers both a critical language and one that speaks to possibility and change.