VOA新闻杂志2023--US City Turns to Science to Help Reduce Gun Violence

US City Turns to Science to Help Reduce Gun Violence

"That's where I got shot," said Rashaad Woods, pointing toward a small store in the city of Knoxville in the state of Tennessee. Nearby are a nightclub where some people were shot and killed and a church with bullet holes in the walls.

"There was a point in time I wasn't comfortable standing¹ here," said Kodi Mills. "But that time is passing."

The two men work for Turn Up Knox, a community-based organization that began operating in July of 2022. It mentors³ children and teenagers on how to prevent conflicts from becoming violent. The project is a central part of city efforts to use research-based methods to reduce gun violence.

Turn Up Knox began operating after a sharp rise in shooting deaths in Knoxville. The larger city effort to reduce gun violence includes policy changes in policing and other action.

However, it does not depend on restrictions⁴ to gun ownership. That was important, since Tennessee has repeatedly moved to loosen gun restrictions.

In 2021, Tennessee started letting people carry handguns in the open or hidden, without a permit. This year, the minimum age for carrying handguns dropped to 18.

Turning to research for answers

Indya Kincannon is the city's mayor.

"I wanted to be able to fix it," she said of the rising gun violence.

As the gun violence goes up in the United States, so has research into how to stop it. Researchers estimate there were more than 48,000 gun deaths last year, with gun-related killings⁵ and suicide rates not seen since the early 1990s.

Gun-related incidents are now the leading cause of death among American children and teenagers.

Now, researchers say they know more about which public health strategies help reduce gun violence and which ones do not.

A report from the non-profit research group Rand Corporation points to policies that it found help reduce gun violence. These steps include laws that permit the charging of adults who let children have unsupervised access to guns. The researchers say strong background checks on gun purchasers also helps reduce gun violence. Another helpful measure involves banning guns from people with a legal record of family violence, Rand reported.

The RAND report also noted⁶ policies that do not help reduce gun violence. For example, it said concealed⁸ carry laws increase gun killings, as do gun buyback programs.

East Knoxville and trusting police

About 16 percent of Knoxville's population is Black and about 40 percent of that group is very poor. Many of them live in East Knoxville, where the firearm violence has greatly increased.

Like other American cities, violence increased in Knoxville during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, there were around 20 shooting deaths per year. The number rose to 38 in 2020 and grew again to 41 in 2021.

As shootings increased, Kincannon, the city's mayor, looked to ideas by Thomas Abt, a crime researcher at the University of Maryland. His plan includes having police and community organizations work closely together.

Abt's Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland worked with an outside researcher to study Knoxville's violent crime.

The study contained a few surprises, said Knoxville Deputy Police Chief Tony Willis.

Just 12 percent of killings by gun were related to organized criminal groups alone. That suggests many of the shootings only involved personal disagreements.

The city's plan centered first on areas in East Knoxville with high rates of gun violence. The effort involves church leaders and community organizations. It also included a new police chief, an investigative division centered on homicides and shootings, and officers who work mostly in areas with many shootings.

A goal is to increase public trust in law enforcement, which had been low.

"We would have someone get killed in broad daylight, with a lot of witnesses, but no one wanted to talk," Kincannon said. "That means we need more partnership⁹ in the community, to build trust."

That is where Turn Up Knox is expected to help. It involves ex-offenders, victims and other community members assisting. They help identify those most likely to be shot or to become shooters. They also mentor² teenagers and operate a lawn service that gives jobs to kids. And, they teach families how to settle conflicts and deal with shooting events.

Sometimes, when someone is in danger of becoming the victim of a revenge shooting, Turn Up Knox gives the person a bus ticket to leave town for a few days.

However, some experts say programs built around Thomas Abt's ideas do not deal with enough of the problem. They note that the programs do not deal with suicide by gun nor the issue of poverty as a risk for gun violence.

Charlene Roberts' 25-year-old daughter, Jessie, was shot and killed in 2019 while sitting in a car. Her son Kevin, 33, was killed in 2021 in gunfire at a birthday party.

She is now raising Jessie's son, Princeton. She says he is strong but that he has also changed.

"He always had the biggest smile, just like his mother," she said. "It breaks my heart. He fakes a smile now. He don't have that smile anymore."

Words in This Story

nightclub -n. an indoor social gathering¹⁰ place with music and dancing or other entertainment

comfortable -adj. feeling relaxed and at ease

access -v. to reach or get something or be someplace

conceal⁷ -v. to hide something

lawn -n. an area of cut grass, typically in the yard's of people's homes

revenge -n. an action in retaliation¹¹ against a perceived ethically¹² wrong action done against oneself or others

fake -v. to pretend to do something but not really do it

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

3 mentors   

n.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友，比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
• These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

8 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

9 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

11 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 ethically   

adv.在伦理上，道德上

参考例句：

• Ethically , we have nothing to be ashamed about . 从伦理上说，我们没有什么好羞愧的。
• Describe the appropriate action to take in an ethically ambiguous situation. 描述适当行为采取在一个道德地模棱两可的情况。