This approach has effectively addressed important health issues including alcohol abuse, tobacco, and motor vehicle accidents ( 17, 18). ![]() The public health approach has been increasingly applied to a variety of social issues in the world and involves four steps: define and monitor the problem, identify risk and protective factors, develop and test prevention strategies, and assure the widespread adoption of proven strategies including education, services, and public policy ( 16). Agenda setting has been used by researchers in diverse areas such as foreign policy, the US budget deficit, and the government response to Hurricane Katrina ( 11, 14, 15). Evidence supports these premises: “people learn from the emphasis of issues in the news media first and foremost which issues are important affect their life” ( 13). The populous in turn places a greater or lesser interest in issues depending on how much attention is given to it by the news media. Whereas the news media does not simply reflect reality but filters and shapes it ( 12), they become a gatekeeper to control “what” the public sees by devoting more or less of its online or print news pieces, screen time, or radio space to specific issues. Though both media effects have importance, this paper focuses primarily on agenda setting. Media agenda setting is a related but unique media effect that sets an agenda for public discussion by the deliberate placement or amount of coverage given to topics or events with the goal of influencing public opinion and public policy ( 10, 11). This type of media effect primarily characterizes how news reports are understood by audiences ( 10), which may change the way audiences view the problem and attribute responsibility. Through the process of framing, the media defines the problem, diagnoses the cause, and offers or justifies solutions for the problem ( 9). ![]() These opposing viewpoints, the effects of special interest groups, the second amendment, and steady firearm fatalities have mixed to create intense partisanship when dealing with gun violence in the US.Ĭlearly, the media plays important roles in the gun violence discussions by how they discuss and describe the issues. Proponents of firearm safety legislation argue that laws to expand background checks, reduce firearm lethality, and many other approaches are sensible and will prevent death and injury however, proponents of more open firearm policies argue that having guns in the hands of good people will promote safety and that restricting access to firearms will not prevent gun violence in the US. The gun debate often results in political and societal gridlock and has not resulted in public policy that either major political party finds totally acceptable ( 8). The social costs of gun violence in the US were $174 billion in 2010, $5.1 million per fatality, and $645 per gun ( 7). Firearms also play a significant role in suicide risk as a highly lethal means of suicide when available to many individuals who experience passing or impulsive suicidal thoughts ( 6). ![]() Possessing a firearm is associated with an increased risk of being murdered or assaulted with a firearm as opposed to offering protection ( 4, 5). ![]() A total of 32,888 individuals lost their lives due to firearms in 2013 with an additional 84,258 individuals experiencing non-fatal firearm related injuries ( 2, 3). In the 4 years, since the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, where 27 were killed, over 18 other prominent shootings have since occurred in the US ( 1).
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