AOF Activities & Events

Gun Violence in the US: Our Shameful Epidemic (2025 update)

Bill Durston, M.D., president of Americans Against Gun Violence (AAGV), will discuss the main factors driving our gun violence epidemic, the definitive measures needed to stop the epidemic, the obstacles to taking these measures, and ways to overcome these obstacles.

The rate of gun related deaths in our country is currently at least ten times higher than the average rate for the other high-income democratic countries of the world. Since 2020, gunshot wounds have become the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents. The AAGV position is that we have the ability and the moral responsibility to reduce rates of firearm related deaths and injuries in the U.S. to levels that are at or below the rates in other economically advanced democratic countries.

Bill Durston worked for more than 35 years as a board certified emergency physician in Sacramento, California, during which time he treated innumerable gunshot victims. Before becoming a physician, Bill was an expert marksman in the United States Marine Corps, serving in combat in Vietnam, where he was decorated for “courage and composure under fire.” In March of 2016, he co-founded a new national non-profit organization, Americans Against Gun Violence, aagunv.org, to extend to a national level the gun violence prevention work that Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSB/Sacramento) was doing locally. Contact Bill through AAGV by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Don't miss this important talk!