As research grows into how to stop gun violence, one city looks to science for help
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — “That’s where I got shot,” said Rashaad Woods, nodding toward a convenience store in Knoxville’s “gun zone.” There were bullet holes in a church’s walls. Nearby was a shuttered nightclub where some people were killed.
“There was a point in time I wasn’t comfortable standing here,” said Kodi Mills, 45. “But that time is passing.”
The men work for Turn Up Knox, a year-old outreach program that mentors kids and defuses situations that could escalate into violence. It’s a centerpiece of the Tennessee city’s attempt to follow a science-based playbook in fighting a surge in shootings.
In recent years, research reviews have begun to conclude there’s enough evidence to say which public health interventions prevent shootings, which do not, and which need more st...
