Mass shootings shouldn't be part of returning to “normal.”

We’ve waited too long for change. If you are unable to see the message below, [click here to view](. [Update your preferences](newsletter=slf) [SELF]( [Mass shootings shouldn’t be part of returning to “normal.”]( On Wednesday, [four people died](, including a child, in a mass shooting in Orange, California. It has only been 10 days since the mass shooting in a Boulder grocery store that killed 10 people. It has only been 16 days since the mass shootings in Atlanta massage businesses that killed eight people, six of them Asian women. Depending on how you define a mass shooting—a hideous phrase to write, to even contemplate—we as a country have either had [three mass shootings]( in the last two and a half weeks or [more than 20](. No matter the exact definition you use, according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](, around 100 people die from a gun-related cause every single day in the United States. That encompasses suicide, accidental deaths, domestic violence, day-to-day shootings, and more. At SELF, we talk a lot about how [personal health and public health are inextricably linked](. Gun violence is one of the clearest examples of this connection. One hundred people a day is an almost incomprehensible number, even more so when considering that so much of this devastation is preventable. We don’t have to live like this. But what makes it even more unfathomable is the fact that every single person who makes up this appalling death toll was, well, a person. It can feel easy to lose focus on that fact thanks to the sheer number of deaths involved. So I wanted to share a few stories that so vividly describe what this kind of loss can feel like for the people who are more directly impacted by this violence, whether because they have survived gun violence themselves, have lost someone they love, or belong to a community reeling from horrifically racist gun violence in particular. These stories also remind us that death is only one tragic outcome of gun violence. Lasting physical and mental trauma are involved too. —Zahra Barnes, interim editor in chief [Have You Seen Enough to Finally Start Taking Anti-Asian Racism Seriously?]( [Call it what it is.]( [READ MORE »]( [It Isn’t ‘Too Soon’ to Discuss Gun Control—For Many, It’s Far Too Late]( [How many more times must we be retraumatized?]( [READ MORE »]( [Why Police Brutality Is a Public Health Issue]( [And why it matters that we see police violence in this light.]( [READ MORE »]( [History-Domestic-Violence]( [There's No Reason Domestic Abusers Should Have Such Easy Access to Guns]( [Domestic violence is often a precursor to a mass shooting.]( [READ MORE »]( [gun-suicide]( [Why Aren't We Talking About Suicide When We Talk About Gun Violence?]( [Firearm suicides are all too common.]( [READ MORE »]( [Lisa Hamp]( [You Don’t Have to Be Shot to Be Scarred by a Mass Shooting]( [Mass shootings don’t just cause physical harm.]( [READ MORE »]( [(image) Condé Nast Spotlight | The breaking news and top stories everyone is talking about. All in one place. The most popular stories from Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, Architectural Digest and more. STAY INFORMED]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10001 Copyright © 2021 Condé Nast.