Following multiple high-profile shootings occurring around the United States, The Daily Campus met with expert Jennifer Dineen to discuss the political state of gun violence in America.
“The United States has a higher rate of gun violence than most other countries, developed countries,” Dineen said. “[…] We have more firearms and more firearm injury and death in this country than exists in most places in the world.”
Dineen is an associate professor in-residence with the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP). She is also the associate director of the University of Connecticut’s Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship (ARMS) in Gun Violence Prevention.
Dineen met virtually with The Daily Campus on Sept. 11 in the aftermath of the shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University the previous day. Dineen was hesitant to label the shooting as political violence. The conversation occurred prior to the arresting of suspect Tyler Robinson.
“It certainly appears to be [political violence],” Dineen explained. “I don’t know that we know enough to provide really clear labels.”
Dineen cautioned against the idea that Kirk’s death was related to a political motive, as she believed there was not enough information available to call it as such.
“I do think that there’s a lot of conversation about [Kirk’s murder] being politically motivated,” Dineen said. “I think it adds to the public concern and fear that these sorts of things can happen anywhere. And they are happening in lots of places that we all go.”
In addition to the shooting of Kirk, other high-profile shootings include the shooting at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis on Aug. 27 and the shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado on Sept. 10.
Dineen did take the time to consider the difference in gun protection laws between Utah and Connecticut.
“So, Utah is a state that has what we call constitutional carry,” Dineen said. “So, you don’t need a permit to own a firearm, you don’t need a permit to carry your firearm in a concealed manner. Even if you’re below 21, even if you’re 18. If you’re 18 to 20 you need a permit to open carry, but you don’t need a permit to open carry if you’re older than 20.”
Dineen added that Utah permits the carrying of firearms on college campuses, while Connecticut does not.
“The fewer [gun] laws a state has, the higher the gun injury and death rates are in those states,” Dineen said. “Utah has what I would call a very permissive gun policy context, and what I mean by ‘permissive context’ is it makes it more possible.”
In 2023, Connecticut experienced about 6.2 deaths from firearms for every 100,000 members of its population, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). This placed the state as the sixth lowest mortality rate to firearms, behind Hawaii, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
“I don’t like to talk in terms of pro- and anti- or gun control and gun rights,” Dineen said. “I think about policy as restricting who can have access and where access can come, and also promoting who can have access and who can have a firearm.”
In recent years, firearm homicides reached their peak in 2020 and 2021, with the leap beginning in March of 2020, according to the CDC.
“And I think that states all have the same goal, right?” Dineen said. “A good life for their citizens and a safe society, but we have some very different ideas about how best to do that when it comes to firearms.”
Dineen encouraged interested individuals to attend a screening of the movie “Tennesse 11,” which UConn ARMS is sponsoring. The event will occur on Sept. 25 at the Connecticut Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn..
“Tennesse 11” is a documentary surrounding the lives of 11 Tennesseans. The movie includes interviews with the Tennesseans, who hold diverse viewpoints, on topics related to gun violence. Following the screening, attendants will have the option to engage in a panel discussion followed by a reception.
“What we’re hoping is that people see that it’s possible to have hard conversations,” Dineen said about the event. “And to have hard conversations in a civil way, that’s productive. That we can do this, and we certainly need to do this. People on the other side, regardless of how we feel about their attitudes or their beliefs or how offended we might be by what they say, are human beings.”
Dineen expressed the importance of civil conversation and the avoidance of what she called “button-pushing conversations.” She encouraged students to listen to what others have to say and to be patient.
“I would say all people want fewer people to die to firearms, but I don’t know that empirically,” Dineen said. “We have different ideas about how that happens, but a good guy with a gun? There were plenty of them on that campus. And it doesn’t necessarily stop the violence.”