Is gun violence like a disease? Doctors think so

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Mass shootings have rattled nerves and renewed calls for stricter gun laws. Doctors are thinking bigger. Gun violence is a social disease, they say, and it could be curbed with a public health approach like the product safety changes and driving laws that slashed traffic fatalities decades ago, even as cars on the road increased.

For example, guardrails are now curved to the ground instead of having sharp metal ends that stick out and pose a hazard in a crash. Health experts learned they had to change the environment — not just try to make people better drivers.

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