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You’re Invited to Batdorf Lecture: Understanding Gun Violence

from The O'Pake Institute for Ethics, Leadership and Public Service

Jan 16, 2019
Cassandra Crifasi

Event to be held at the following time, date, and location:

Wednesday, February 20, 2019 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM (EST) CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Francis Hall Theater on the Alvernia University Campus
400 Saint Bernardine Street
Reading, PA 19607

On a Friday morning in June, Cassandra Crifasi loads a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, takes aim, pulls the trigger—and 25 feet away, a paper target takes a hit to the chest. Crifasi peers through the gunsight, then pulls the trigger again, and again. The shots are deafening, bouncing off the concrete walls of this gun range tucked into a Severna Park, Maryland, strip mall. Neither the noise nor the kick from the gun rattles Crifasi. She shoots twice a month, so she’s used to it. When the magazine is empty she reloads. This time she aims for the head. Because, she says, “you gotta prepare for the zombies.”

Crifasi—who goes by Cass—is an assistant professor in Health Policy and Management . . .and one of the few gun policy researchers in the nation who not only owns guns but regularly shoots for sport. . . . You don’t have to be a gun policy researcher to know that the debate over the right to bear arms is one of the most persistent divides in the U.S.—one driven less by evidence than rhetoric, fear and entrenched narratives. Crifasi, 34, is part of what she calls “the large moderate swath that is invisible”: those who believe the Second Amendment protects citizens’ right to have a firearm in their home, but also believe that right should be regulated by effective, evidence-based gun policy.

Dr. Crifasi’s research focuses broadly on public safety including injury epidemiology and prevention, gun violence, attitudes and behaviors of gun owners, and underground gun markets.  Following her presentation, a panel of local experts will offer their reaction to her remarks and their opinions about the issues related to gun violence.

Share this event on Facebook and Twitter.We hope you can make it!Cheers,The O’Pake Institute for Ethics, Leadership and Public Service

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