The
Bay Area Chapters of the Brady Campaign held a highly successful event
on March 27, 2009, entitled "A Community Response to an Epidemic of Bay
Area Gun Violence."  By a sad coincidence, the event followed the huge
funeral in Oakland of the four Oakland police officers killed by a
gunman a week earlier.  As a result, the event got remarkable media
attention with coverage on three late evening television news programs.

The
event was held on the last day of the "Wounded in America"
photojournalism exhibit on display at Grace Cathedral.  Attendees at
the event had time before the program to visit the exhibit.  All were
strongly moved by the photos and oral histories of the gun violence
survivors across the U.S.  The exhibit now moves to Chico State
University and then on to Oregon.

The program consisted of a
panel with three outstanding speakers and closed with a recognition
ceremony.  The first speaker was Dr. Bill Durston, ER Surgeon in
Sacramento and a former Injury Prevention Chairperson of the California
Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.  Dr. Durston
reviewed the data on firearms fatalities in the US.  He noted that, as
a Vietnam Wat veteran, he was deeply struck by the fact that more Americans
are killed by firearms in the US in two years than were killed in the
entire Vietnam war.

The second speaker was Dr. Rochelle Dicker,
trauma surgeon and Director of the San Francisco In jury Center at San
Francisco General Hospital.  When she was a medical resident, Dr.
Dicker was horrified to discover that patients injured by firearms
often returned a second or third time to the hospital with new
injuries.  She was moved to create an intervention program in the
hospital called the Wraparound Project that provides comprehensive
assistance -- counseling for education, employment and other services
-- to injured youth.  She feels that part of the success of her project
comes from using case managers who are drawn from the local community.

The
final speaker was Howard Pinderhughes, Ph.D., the Chair of the Social
and Behavioral Sciences Department at UCSF.  In his research on gun
violence, he has interviewed 15,000 youth in San Francisco regarding
their access to guns.  He stated that for minority youth "having a
firearm is normal, for both boys and girls" because the young people
feel the need for safety which they believe they cannot find it in any
other way.  Injury rates and losses among African-Americans and Latinos
are so high that, according to Dr. Pinderhughes, it's like "having an
entire community with post-traumatic stress syndrome."

At the
end of the program, Griffin Dix, President of the Oakland/Alameda
County Chapter of the Brady Campaign, made a presentation to 21
community groups and individuals who work with victims of gun violence.  Many
of the groups had representatives at the event and it was heartwarming
to see so many committed people who respond to and attempt to do
something about the gun violence epidemic.

The Brady Campaign
greatly appreciates the cooperation of Grace Cathedral and the work of
all responsible for putting on the event.