Letters to the Editor for Dec. 22, 2021: A welcome solution | Letters

Virginia lawmakers and the incoming administration should support Gov. Ralph Northam’s call to create a Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention.

Policymakers, regardless of party or ideology, would benefit from a sustained, centralized initiative to separate fact from fiction and provide them with the information necessary to craft the wisest policies.

Additionally, the $27 million proposed for the center is a small fraction of what gun violence is already costing Virginia: $7 billion each year in medical, criminal justice and other societal costs, of which $292 million is paid by taxpayers.

Preventing gun violence requires more than simply a law enforcement response and asking more of our police. A hub such as the proposed center would proactively treat gun violence as the public health crisis that it is: About two-thirds of gun deaths nationally and in Virginia are suicides; firearms are among the leading causes of death among children and teens in the state; and twice as many gunshot victims in Virginia are wounded but survive compared to those who are killed, forever altering their lives and health. Also, rural regions in the state, such as the Shenandoah Valley, and Southwest and Southside Virginia, have some of the highest rates of firearm suicides.