Study: gun violence costs MD hundreds of millions of dollars

BALTIMORE (WBFF) - A new Giffords Law Center report showed gun violence here in Maryland costs taxpayers $294 million a year.

"I think 2017 will really be remembered as the year when our entire city began to despair," said Del. Brooke Lierman, according to FOX45's Paul Gessler reporting from a church in Cherry Hill.

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said: "Violence is a contagious disease, like the flu. It spreads from person to person."

Baltimore's link to gun crime drew comparisons to a sickness.

Lierman is pushing a bill to invest $5 million to treat gun violence like a disease.

The Giffords Law Center study suggests the total cost, including lost income and pain and suffering, of gun violence in Maryland is more than $3.6 billion a year.

"A lot of the perpetrators are victims sometimes and a lot of the victims are perpetrators. So, the economic impact is really huge when you talk about people repeating visits to the emergency room," said James Timpson of Safe Streets.

The Giffords Law Center was founded by former congresswoman and shooting victim Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly.