CRIMEThe CDC Shooting Was a Matter of Time, Health Experts Say
“A lot of the current political rhetoric is not a good-faith discussion or debate, but outright labeling of other humans as somehow evil and not worthy of walking the earth,” says Dr. Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health. In a conversation with The Trace, she notes that “It is almost inevitable that when you combine evil rhetoric with isolation, lack of support for physical and mental health, and lack of ability to temporarily remove a firearm from someone who has the intent to kill, that we’re gonna end up with tragedies.”
This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.
Health experts around the country are shaken after a shooting last week at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention left a 31-year-old police officer dead. Officials are still investigating the shooter’s motive, but initial reports cite the gunman’s ongoing mental health issues and vaccine skepticism, fueled by statements from public officials.
For many in the public health field, last Friday’s shooting was the culmination of years of growing distrust sown by political hostility, and the spread of lax gun laws at a turbulent moment in the country’s history. At the same time, the CDC has endured hundreds of layoffs in recent months, lost billions of dollars in funding, and faced attacks from Trump administration officials, most notably Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have discredited evidence-based public health approaches.
When Dr. Megan Ranney first heard the news of the shooting, her anger quickly turned to grief as she tried to make sense of the event. Ranney, a former emergency physician and the dean of the Yale School of Public Health, has been active in gun violence prevention efforts for 15 years. In an interview with The Trace, she said the shooting shows the complicated relationship between healthcare, firearms access, and politics.
Health experts around the country are shaken after a shooting last week at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention left a 31-year-old police officer dead. Officials are still investigating the shooter’s motive, but initial reports cite the gunman’s ongoing mental health issues and vaccine skepticism, fueled by statements from public officials.
For many in the public health field, last Friday’s shooting was the culmination of years of growing distrust sown by political hostility, and the spread of lax gun laws at a turbulent moment in the country’s history. At the same time, the CDC has endured hundreds of layoffs in recent months, lost billions of dollars in funding, and faced attacks from Trump administration officials, most notably Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have discredited evidence-based public health approaches.
