Here at New Trajectory there have been a number of survivor story postings, both as guest blog posts from survivors and the families of shooting victims, and as mentions of where to find such stories. You can find these HERE. The first of those was my own account (I was not wounded, but was intimately involved in a shooting in my youth).
But since the Sandy Hook shooting, there has been renewed attention on the issue of gun violence in general, and the dramatic impact that the daily shooting carnage has wrought on our society, including the posting of survivor stories at a number of sites, usually by the survivors themselves or families of victims.
Here are some important pages where you can find these (Click on the name of the page to link to it):
FACES OF COURAGE: Put together by Moms Demand Action for Gunsense In America, this is a
collection of accounts by surviving family members for all sorts of shootings, including suicides. You can add your own story here.
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| Screencap from the Organizing for Action page. |
STORIES ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE: A page put together by Barack Obama's organization, Organizing for Action. Here you can find accounts, and even videos, by survivors of shootings and families of victims. You can add your own story here, too.
I DEMAND ACTION: A page set up by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which has a number of videos by people giving their first-hand accounts of how gun violence has affected their lives.
I DEMAND ACTION: A page set up by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which has a number of videos by people giving their first-hand accounts of how gun violence has affected their lives.
HOW LONG WILL I CRY? VOICES OF YOUTH VIOLENCE: This is a collection of first-hand accounts of gun violence in Chicago put together by students from DePaul University who fanned out across the city to collect and publish accounts from survivors and family members.
If you are a shooting survivor, or are the family of a survivor or shooting victim, I urge you to add your voice to the first two websites. Yours are the most powerful voices calling for a reform to our out-of-control culture of gun violence.
Let's work together to create a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.
UPDATE (4/18/14): A new gun violence prevention site, Everytown for Gun Safety, also has a section for Survivors where you can share your story (scroll to the bottom of the page). If you are a survivor or family of a victim, please add your story here. Presumably these will be public at some point in the near future.
ADDENDUM (6/12/14): Read in an article by Slate.com about family members of those lost to gun violence who continually advocate for changing our nation away from gun violence. Said one family member, Sandy Philips, “You allow your heart to be broken every day you tell your story because you need someone else to understand the heartbreak that is part of this.”
UPDATE (7/14/14): Rolling Stone online now has a page for "America's Gun Violence Epidemic." There you can find a large number of survivor stories as well as a form where you can describe how gun violence has affected you.
UPDATE (3/14/15): Photographer Joe Quint has put together moving photos of shooting survivors and victim families. See here: http://www.ittakes.us/faces-of-gun-violencehttp://www.ittakes.us/faces-of-gun-violence .
UPDATE (11/16/15): Some survivors are sharing photos of themselves and family members as part of the #NotOneMore movement.
UPDATE (6/21/17): More survivor stories from the "Journey of a Bullet" site: http://www.nbcnews.com/specials/journey-of-a-bullet
UPDATE (12/30/17): Everytown has a page of first-hand accounts from those who have lost loved ones to suicide: https://everytown.org/suicide-prevention/
UPDATE (4/18/14): A new gun violence prevention site, Everytown for Gun Safety, also has a section for Survivors where you can share your story (scroll to the bottom of the page). If you are a survivor or family of a victim, please add your story here. Presumably these will be public at some point in the near future.
ADDENDUM (6/12/14): Read in an article by Slate.com about family members of those lost to gun violence who continually advocate for changing our nation away from gun violence. Said one family member, Sandy Philips, “You allow your heart to be broken every day you tell your story because you need someone else to understand the heartbreak that is part of this.”
UPDATE (7/14/14): Rolling Stone online now has a page for "America's Gun Violence Epidemic." There you can find a large number of survivor stories as well as a form where you can describe how gun violence has affected you.
UPDATE (3/14/15): Photographer Joe Quint has put together moving photos of shooting survivors and victim families. See here: http://www.ittakes.us/faces-of-gun-violencehttp://www.ittakes.us/faces-of-gun-violence .
UPDATE (11/16/15): Some survivors are sharing photos of themselves and family members as part of the #NotOneMore movement.
UPDATE (6/21/17): More survivor stories from the "Journey of a Bullet" site: http://www.nbcnews.com/specials/journey-of-a-bullet
UPDATE (12/30/17): Everytown has a page of first-hand accounts from those who have lost loved ones to suicide: https://everytown.org/suicide-prevention/
