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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 31 March 2023
Gun injuries in U.S. surged during

pandemic, CDC study shows

In this June 14, 2016, file photo, two people walk on the University
of Wyoming campus in Laramie, Wyo.
Associated Press

Suit contests University of Wyoming
trans woman in sorority

By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The nationwide battle over the
places where transgender people may belong has flared
The owner of a shooting range, prepares to load bullets in his 9mm semi-automatic handgun for at the University of Wyoming, where a lawsuit filed by sev-
a demonstration, Thursday, June 23, 2022, in New York. en sorority members challenges the induction of a trans-
Associated Press gender woman into their local chapter.
By MIKE STOBBE vide a more comprehen- mid-March 2020, after a The woman, identified only by the pseudonym “Terry
AP Medical Writer sive picture of gun violence pandemic emergency was Smith” in the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in
NEW YORK (AP) — For every in America than simply declared and lockdowns Cheyenne, made residents of the Kappa Kappa Gamma
American killed by gunfire, measuring homicides and and other measures were house uncomfortable in part by sitting on a common-ar-
an estimated two or more suicides. put into place. A sharper ea couch for hours and staring at them without talking,
more survive, often with ter- “Hospitals are a great jump occurred a couple of the lawsuit alleges.“One sorority member walked down
rible injuries — a fact that place to keep the pulse months later, in the second the hall to take a shower, wearing only a towel. She felt
public health experts say on who is being shot, and half of May, when protests an unsettling presence, turned, and saw Mr. Smith watch-
is crucial to understanding when and where,” said and civil unrest followed ing her silently,” the lawsuit alleges.
the full impact of guns on Catherine Barber, a senior the Minneapolis police kill- The lawsuit against the national Kappa Kappa Gamma
society. injury researcher at Har- ing of George Floyd. sorority, its national council president and Smith claims
A new government study vard University’s school of While the CDC study did national sorority officials pressured the local chapter to
highlights just how violent public health. not differentiate between violate sorority rules, including those for voting to induct
America’s recent past has The CDC study results came injuries caused by as- new members.
been by showing a surge from more than 2,200 U.S. saults or accidents, other The lawsuit asks for a judge to declare Smith’s sorority
in gunfire injuries during hospital emergency de- research has shown that membership void and to award unspecified damages.
the COVID-19 pandemic, partments, which represent about 3 out of 4 gunshot The damages should reflect the local chapter’s decline
when the number of peo- the bulk of the nation’s ERs, wounds are intentional. in financial stability and donations because of Smith’s in-
ple fatally shooting each said Thomas Simon, one The CDC says more than duction last fall, the lawsuit alleges.
other — and themselves -- of the authors of the new 45,000 people died from Like Smith, the seven women suing are anonymous, re-
also increased. study. gun-related injuries in the ferred to in the lawsuit as Jane Does I-XII.
The number of people in- The study suggests that the U.S. in 2020, and more than The national Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority based in
jured by gunfire was near- number of gunshot-related 47,000 in 2021. Dublin, Ohio, didn’t return email and phone messages
ly 40% higher in 2020 and ER visits at hospitals in the The country’s gun violence seeking comment Wednesday and Thursday. Smith did
2021, compared with 2019, study rose from around problem was thrust into not immediately return an email message Thursday seek-
the Centers for Disease 50,000 in 2019 to more than the national conversa- ing comment. She had no attorney listed in court records.
Control and Prevention 72,000 in 2020. Because tion again this week after Smith, 21, doesn’t live among the 44 women currently re-
said in a study published more than a quarter of a shooter killed 3 children siding in the Sorority Row house because of housing com-
Thursday. In 2022, gun inju- U.S. hospital emergency and 3 adults at a Chris- mitments elsewhere, according to the lawsuit that identi-
ries tapered off, but were departments were not in- tian school in Tennessee; fies Smith as male.
still 20% higher than before volved in the study, the ac- nobody who was shot sur- Smith has spent much time at the sorority house, how-
the pandemic. tual number is likely signifi- vived. The shooter was ever, including for a slumber party she allegedly did not
Gun injuries rose similarly cantly higher. killed by police. leave until two hours after promised. The next morning,
for men and women over Experts believe a variety “We are in a week when Smith became “sexually aroused” while watching other
the past three years, while of factors contributed to people are paying atten- pledges change their clothes, the lawsuit alleges.
the largest proportional in- the pandemic surge in gun tion to this issue again, Smith, who identifies with female pronouns on Twitter,
crease occurred among violence, including a rise in sadly, after a mass shoot- wears women’s clothing “only occasionally,” has not un-
children younger than 15, a guns purchased, more time ing in Nashville” said Nina dergone medical gender transition and identifies as male
subset that remains a small spent inside homes where Vinik, executive director of on a Washington State driver’s license even though she
fraction of the overall prob- guns are present and men- Project Unloaded, an ad- legally could have identified on it as female or “X” gen-
lem. tal health struggles stem- vocacy group focused on der, the lawsuit alleges.
Experts say the CDC gun in- ming from social isolation the impact of gun violence “An adult human male does not become a woman just
jury study, which uses data and economic hardships. on children. “Hopefully this because he tells others that he has a female ‘gender
from hospital emergency The CDC study shows a paper will add new data to identity’ and behaves in what he believes to be a stereo-
departments, helps pro- rise in gun injuries around that conversation.”q typically female manner,” the lawsuit says.q