Last month, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued a new advisory stating that, "Firearm violence is an urgent public health crisis that has led to loss of life, unimaginable pain, and profound grief for far too many Americans.” He backed this up with key evidence such as:
- Gun violence is now the leading cause of death in the U.S. among kids and teens.
- Rates of gun-related deaths among kids 1-19 years old in the U.S. are astronomically high. Gun violence is at least 5 times higher in the U.S. than any other major wealthy country around the world.
- Over 50% of Americans say they or their family have experienced a firearm-related incident in their lifetime, and about 60% of U.S. adults say that they worry "sometimes," "almost every day," or "every day" about a loved one being a victim of firearm violence.
This is a problem all too familiar to Omnilert, who’s AI visual gun detection technology was born out of the Sandy Hook tragedy when our Director of AI’s young relative was one of the children who lost their life that day. Our technology was designed to help prevent mass shootings like this from ever happening again. And we are proud to say we are now helping to keep hundreds of schools, healthcare facilities, universities, retail stores, commercial buildings and other facilities safe from active shooters. Like the U.S. Surgeon General, we are tracking the state of gun violence closely because our goal is to help reverse this trend. Every year we issue an annual compilation of gun violence statistics summarizing the alarming number of mass shootings and other gun violence in America. Unfortunately, 2023 broke a record with 346 school shootings – the most in over four decades – and with 173 shootings so far in 2024, we are on track to meet or exceed last year’s violence.
Combatting the Rise in Violence
When the Surgeon General issued his health advisory around gun violence, he outlined an evidence-informed public health approach with prevention strategies that public health leaders and policymakers can consider to reduce and prevent firearm-related death and injury. This is where AI visual gun detection can make a crucial difference and become a nationwide tool used to help prevent mass shootings. In a fraction of a second, the system can visually detect a weapon and once verified, it can instantly initiate an extensive and automatic response such as lock doors, call police, set the facility on lock down, alert people in the facility and more.
When this technology becomes as ubiquitous as fire alarms in public buildings – and we believe it will – the ability to stop active shooters before they do harm increases significantly and will help curb the trend. The technology will more easily become mainstream because it can be used in any camera that is connected to the internet. If you look at just the top 50 most populated cities in the US, there are nearly 537,000 cameras monitoring a population of 48.9 million people. Every one of these cameras can be equipped with life-saving AI visual gun detection technology that transforms them into 24/7 proactive weapon monitors. This is a stark contrast to how the cameras are being used today which is generally as a forensic tool to view an incident after it has occurred. Considering that the FBI says most active shooter incidents are over within 5 minutes, these cameras currently provide no help during the actual event.
The Time is Now to Turn the Tide on Gun Violence
Leading medical organizations around the country have been issuing their support for the Surgeon General’s advisory. This includes the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Surgeons, American Public Health Association and the YWCA. At Omnilert, we stand beside these organizations and vow to continue doing our part to fight this growing trend by providing another layer of technology that can be leveraged to help identify and respond to active shooters faster than ever before possible. Together, we can turn the tide and stop this crisis!
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