Opinion: Gun violence in Colorado, U.S. is a crisis that demands a public health response

Communities across Aurora, Commerce City, Denver and Fort Collins experienced a string of unrelated shootings over a single recent weekend (Aug. 10-11) that took the lives of six people and left 12 others with gun-related injuries. In Colorado Springs, police officers responded to a man walking with an assault rifle threatening to take his own life. Thankfully, they peacefully de-escalated the situation and took him into protective custody.

Occurrences like this aren’t new in Colorado, but it doesn’t make them any less tragic. 

I started getting texts about several of these shootings from my community throughout the Denver metro area that Saturday evening. Every time I hear of one of these all-too-familiar incidents, I think of the cascading harm that firearm-related violence has on youth, families and our neighbors that reverberates far beyond the immediate victims. 

In Colorado, 71.8% of firearm deaths are suicides, and are also the leading cause of death associated community violence (in 2020, 79% of homicides nationally involved firearms), intimate partner violence (81% of IPV fatalities in Colorado in 2021 were due to firearms), and targeted and mass shootings.

The reality is that gun violence also impacts those who see it — the direct witnesses — along with those who lose a loved one, those who become caregivers to survivors, first responders, and all who experience collective trauma and fear as members of the affected community. 

The proliferation of firearm violence is a symptom of a country with failing firearm policies that have been impacting our communities for far too long. As someone who’s been on both sides of this crisis, from the streets to the halls of policy-making, I can tell you: We’re at a critical crossroads.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s recent advisory on the public health crisis of firearm violence in the United States details the far-reaching consequences that this crisis poses to Americans. 

Colorado’s recent outbreak of violent events, threats of self-harm and completed suicides that didn’t make the news underscore the need for leaders and communities to come together to discuss and address what drives gun violence. 

If we’re going to turn the tide, we need to talk about how the lack of access to social supports, systemic racism, income inequality and inequitable investment in communities put people at risk of harm from firearms — especially communities of color, our LGBTQ+ youth, and folks with diminished economic opportunity. 

We need to adopt evidenced-based policies that reduce firearm violence and promote effective prevention strategies such as safe storage practices. Let’s talk about how giving our kids well-maintained parks and green spaces can effectively reduce rates of firearm violence and bring communities together, for example.

The harm associated with guns is a serious public health problem that is highly preventable, and we have to start addressing it that way. Violence spreads like a virus. 

Every exposure — whether witnessed firsthand, seen in media, or experienced in our communities — increases the risk of experiencing harm from firearms. When firearm-related tragedies occur, the way we respond matters. We cannot continue to allow these tragedies to be familiar when there is so much we can do to unite together in bold, evidenced-based action. 

Here’s the truth that must give us hope: We can build resilience against violence. 

In Colorado, community leaders, public health experts, health care providers, researchers, philanthropists and business owners are defining Colorado’s public health approach to firearm violence prevention, supported by Trailhead Institute’s Firearm-Related Harm and Violence Prevention program office and leaders across the state.

So how do we build a safer future? Here’s the game plan: 

1. Education: Bring awareness to the harm and violence caused by the wide range of firearm-related incidents including accidents, domestic abuse and suicide. 
2. Evidence-based Action: Enact an evidence-based public health approach toward prevention that has proven effective in eradicating diseases like polio, reducing smoking deaths and making cars safer.
3. Empathy: Promote understanding across diverse groups.
4. Community Connections: Strengthen local bonds to create support networks.
5. Early Intervention: Identify and address factors that increase a person’s risk of experiencing harm from firearms before a firearm-related incident occurs.
6. Systemic Change: Address the root causes that fuel cycles of violence through policies and solutions that address structural racism, concentrated poverty, lack of access to social supports and other environmental factors.

To every Coloradan out there, I say this: We all have a role to play. Let’s build sustained, coordinated action through a public health approach. It’s essential that all of us bring our unique perspectives from our communities to work together for a future that is safer, healthier, happier and hopeful.

Jonathan McMillan, who lives in Aurora, is the director of firearm-related harm and violence prevention at Trailhead Institute; he is a youth and gun violence prevention and community violence intervention expert with over 30 years of lived and professional experience.

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