The toll of gun violence on survivors

The news recently has been filled with gun violence.

This past weekend, two young men were shot and killed after fights broke out in downtown Minneapolis.

The same night in Birmingham, Ala., four people were shot and killed outside a nightclub.

And at the beginning of September, a student at Apalachee High School outside Atlanta killed two other students and two teachers with a rifle.

We often focus on the people killed by guns. But there were also people wounded at each of these recent shootings, people who will live for the rest of their lives with physical scars and mental trauma.

Two teenage girls and a young woman were injured in Minneapolis. Eighteen people were wounded in Birmingham. A teacher and eight students survived Apalachee.

There were crowds of witnesses at each shooting diving for cover. Family members and friends who were not at the scenes are angry, grieving and scared.

Recent research from the Violence Prevention Project Research Center at Hamline University shows that the mental health toll of gun violence is staggering. Nearly half of all Minnesotans are afraid of being shot in a public place. Of those who have been at the scene of a mass shooting, 90 percent report suffering from anxiety, depression or PTSD.

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about the impact of gun violence on survivors and the broader community.

Guests:

• Tommy McBrayer is a survivor of two shootings and the founder and CEO of the Minneapolis nonprofit Don’t Shoot Guns, Shoot Hoops.  

• Jillian Peterson is a professor of criminology and criminal justice and executive director of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center at Hamline University in St. Paul.  

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Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.