In the CDC shooting aftermath, here’s what Americans can do to move forward

On Aug. 8 in Atlanta, a man armed with multiple weapons, including rifles, a shotgun and a handgun, shot more than 500 rounds, hitting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention buildings, attacking police — killing one officer — and finally shooting himself.

Physical barriers and security guards prevented him from gaining direct access to the workers inside the CDC and to the 95 children next door in the day care center.

The 30-year-old shooter reportedly believed that the COVID-19 vaccine made him sick and depressed. This shooting was both predictable and preventable.

Science tells us that if we can understand the causes of things, we can change the effects and the outcomes — for the better. It is urgent that we understand why this happened so we can prevent it from happening again.

This was the result of three forces coming together to create a perfect storm:

• An intentional effort to undermine trust in science
• The tolerance of high levels of firearm violence
• The use of lies to fuel hatred and distrust in an already polarized society.

If we address effectively each of these forces, we can prevent a repeat.

Leaders can move forward with policy changes to make us safer

First, science may not be the same as the truth, but rigorous science — including social science — gets us closer to the truth and can help us solve some of the most difficult problems.

Dr. Mark L. Rosenberg served as U.S. assistant surgeon general, was the founding director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and is president emeritus of The Task Force for Global Health. (Courtesy)

This is true whether we are talking about COVID-19 vaccines or firearm violence. Many political leaders have disparaged science and scientists, often oversimplifying complex issues and taking us away from the real problem by blaming those they disagree with.

Second, we live with a level of firearm violence higher than any other equally developed nation would tolerate — and we should not accept this.

The CDC incident drew national attention but just scratches the surface of the underlying issues. Forty years ago, there were 100 million firearms and less than 34,000 firearm deaths. Today, there are 400 million firearms in the hands of civilians and very few policies in place to prevent those firearms from taking innocent lives.

Every day, far from the headlines, a score of young Black men are killed and many middle-aged white men die by suicide with a firearm. In 2024, over 44,000 people died from firearm injuries.

Too many politicians seem to have given up on efforts to prevent firearm violence. We are succumbing to fatalism.

It is time for leaders across Atlanta, Georgia and the nation to turn words and evidence into action with legislation, enforcement and investment. Science has identified several promising interventions that can reduce firearm injuries without infringing on the rights of law-abiding firearm owners:

• Universal background checks and child-access prevention (safe storage) laws reduce firearm deaths, especially among youth.
• Extreme risk protection orders (red-flag laws) allow temporary removal of firearms from individuals in crisis, with due process protections.
• Domestic violence restraining orders backed by firearm prohibitions have strong evidence for reducing intimate partner homicide.

The third force we must address is the polarization of our society: When truth has been eroded and the previously reliable sources have been undermined, lies and disinformation spread widely and quickly. They can be used to create fear and division.

We need to have credible institutions and policies whose guidance is based on open, transparent and shared evidence and common values. We need to remember that we have a shared goal — a safe, economically vibrant, healthy country where we can live free from fear and have the freedom to make choices.

This is not out of reach.

These are three actionable steps for moving ahead after shooting

We need to move quickly to stop the daily deaths and the next mass tragedy by addressing the three forces that created this “perfect storm” by:

James A. Mercy is the retired director of the Division of Violence Prevention at the CDC. (Courtesy)

• Supporting and strengthening our government’s ability to conduct critical public health and biomedical research to generate and test new ideas, communicate knowledge, promote transparency and foster public engagement. We cannot escape the irony that the very part of CDC that works to prevent attacks like this without infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners was targeted by DOGE for destruction.
• Implementing and enforcing evidence-based policies and enforcing them to reduce firearm violence while protecting the rights of law-abiding firearm owners. In this case, the shooter had reportedly been seeking help for several weeks, and his father told police he was suicidal. While serious mental illness plays only a limited role in the majority of firearm homicides, we must do far better at identifying and serving those who are in crisis and keeping firearms out of their hands.
• Reducing social polarization and stopping the vilification of our public health and public safety institutions and workers with civil, fact-based discourse, trusted messengers who can counter misinformation and improved leadership in every sector of society.

The Aug. 8 attack on the CDC could easily have become a mass murder of civil servants and children. We escaped the full potential horror thanks to the heroic and prompt actions of law enforcement personnel, physical barriers and good luck.

We cannot sit back and wait for this perfect storm to strike again.

We have a choice: We can allow misinformation, unchecked gun violence and polarization to set the stage for more needless bloodshed or we can act — guided by evidence and united by a vision for a safe, healthy and vibrant country.

Julie Rosenberg is deputy director of the Global Health Delivery Project at Harvard University. (Courtesy)

Let’s seize this moment with the same resolve and energy that protected lives at the CDC and that the CDC has demonstrated to the rest of the country for so many years.