While national media outlets frame America’s gun epidemic around mass shootings, another form of gun violence often goes unnoticed. Common gun homicides, which claim thousands of lives annually, receive less attention. Not only are many cases rarely followed up, but many go unreported by news outlets. Lack of information can also hinder effective reporting on and awareness of gun violence.

Areas that suffer from high rates of gun-related homicide, including parts of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, remain under-resourced to address such violence and the socioeconomic conditions correlated with it.

To help address this issue, the students and faculty of Swarthmore College’s “Gun Violence Prevention” class have compiled data regarding gun homicides in Delaware County. By aggregating information about the scope of gun-related and other homicides, the Delaware County Homicide Database hopes to serve as a tool for community members, advocates, and policymakers.

(Photo: Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence installed their Memorial to the Lost at Trinity Episcopal Church in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in September 2018. The memorial travels around Delaware County. Photo Credit: Lee Smithey)