I’m a gun owner and a shooting victim; I see common ground
I was walking into work finishing a conference call, pushing through the glass revolving door, when I was hit.
Three years ago, a man with a gun was standing inside my office building in the main city square in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a 9 mm handgun and a messenger bag with 250 rounds, shooting people he had never met.
My first thought was to call my husband. As I tried to reach my phone, I was shot again. I was shot 12 times. Resolving to play dead to increase my chance of survival, I slumped my body into the bottom of the revolving door and my mind started to race. I thought about our 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. I took a minute to say my prayers and resign myself to death.
But that ending was not mine.
To this day the exceptional trauma team at University of Cincinnati Medical Center still calls me a miracle. In a unit plagued by gun violence, stories like mine are rare. In just three years I have endured five surgeries to repair ruptured tendons and discs, major bones including my ulna and humerus, and surgeries to regenerate nerves and bone growth. On top of that I have been the recipient of multiple blood transfusions and more than 300 hours of physical, occupational, and psychiatric therapy.
It is a full-time job to recover from gun violence, but I have always been acutely aware of the alternative. I have always been mindful of the amazing gift I received in seeing my precious family once again. It is with this extreme sense of gratitude and deep resolve that I approach the exact problem that nearly ended my life.
Get the debate out of the extremes
My husband and I grew up in and still live in the South. We are gun owners. We know that preserving the Second Amendment and reducing gun violence are not mutually exclusive goals. We also know Americans, of both political parties, are highly motivated to see this issue addressed and the trends of death and injury reversed.
We knew then in theory what we know now in practice. Ending gun violence will only come about when Americans seek common ground with evidence-based solutions focused on responsible gun ownership. And we knew that people often look at the two extreme sides of the debate. But when the focus is placed on ending gun violence, and not gun ownership, everyone feels welcome in the big tent.
I have dedicated the past three years of my life to accomplish this. We’ve brought together gun violence survivors, gun owners, and advocates who are concerned about lives lost to all forms of gun violence. And together, we are finding hope and progress together.
In October of 2019, we stood side-by-side with Republican Ohio Governor Mike Dewine, Dayton’s Democratic Mayor Nan Whaley, and a broad bipartisan coalition, as Strong Ohio, a 17-point plan for gun violence prevention was introduced.
In November of 2019, and with the support of Kentucky State Senators Paul Hornback, a Republican lawmaker, and Morgan Mcgarvey, a Democratic lawmaker, Whitney/strong spearheaded a hearing to reduce preventable mass violence and firearm suicide in Kentucky.
In December 2019, thanks to the efforts of many organizations, including Whitney/strong, Congress appropriated $25 million to the National Institutes for Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevent to study gun violence and safety after failing to fund these efforts for more than 20 years.
In 2020 we distributed more than 12,000 gun locks across Kentucky and Ohio to prevent firearm death and injury. Our partnerships with the Kentucky chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Shooting Sports Foundation helped make this possible.
We have trained over 300 people in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by homicide on steps they can individually take to reduce gun violence and its impact on their communities.
This is just the beginning. We have made progress and will continue to make progress by prioritizing what we have in common and not our differences. And we will do it together.
Whitney Austin is co-founder of Whitney/ Strong, an organization which seeks common ground to end gun violence through data-driven, responsible gun ownership solutions.