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Mapping Local Gun Violence in Pittsburgh

Partner: CeaseFirePA 2023 Spring
#Gun Violence #GIS Mapping #Data Visualization

Background

Gun violence takes the lives or injures 4,600 Pennsylvanians every year. And there isn’t a single community in the state that is unaffected by this epidemic. The Common Agenda addresses each major source of this devastation by bringing together more than 130 organizations to advocate for solutions that will save lives.

Details

Deliverable

An interactive GIS map of Pennsylvania with:

  • Pinpoints of shootings
  • Information on victim: name, link to news articles
  • Label characteristic: mass suicide? mass killing?
  • Link to CeaseFirePA page with online petition for corresponding type of gun violence (e.g. mass suicide page)
  • Aggregate statistics of different types of gun violence

Data Source

The Gun Violence Archive and The Trace provide individual observations for each gun violence event, including details like location, date, and victim details. County coroners would need to be contacted to request data on gun suicides in their jurisdictions.

Impact

The resulting map will be used on the website, in the media, and in reports. It will serve as an impactful data visualization.

About the Partner

CeaseFirePA is the Commonwealth's leader advocating for an end to gun violence. They target issues including gun violence in Pennsylvania, firearm suicide, mass shootings, community violence etc. It advocates for gun violence prevention legislation in Pennsylvania and stood up to the gun lobby when they've tried to punish local officials working to save lives or repeal important gun safety laws already in place.

Interested in Working With Us?

If you have a data-related challenge that could benefit from our expertise, we'd love to hear from you.

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