Gun violence has long-lasting social, physical and emotional impacts

VTDigger - February 7, 2022

Most people who haven’t experienced gun violence believe it will never happen to them. Unfortunately, I was one of those people. Until it happened to me.

After settling into Vermont in 2019 with my partner, I became enamored with the historic downtowns, the slow pace of life, the lush green mountains, and the community we had built in our small town. It felt dream-like, something you’d see in a Vermont tourism ad.

Then Covid hit, and everything changed. The pandemic fueled a rise in anger and stress — expressed through aggressive behavior and domestic violence. We witnessed this in real time with a neighbor on our street.

Our neighbor had long struggled with substance misuse and aggressive behavior issues, according to his family — and these issues were amplified during the pandemic. His behavior deteriorated over the course of the following year.

Our dream turned into a nightmare. Frequently, and into the late hours of the night, the neighbor would shoot his assault weapons, the booms reverberating across the valley. We heard screaming from his house regularly. Our relationship with the man’s family, which had previously been amicable, quickly deteriorated. Our valley — our home — sounded like we were living in a war zone. 

During this tumultuous time, we learned this man was a felon and not allowed to own guns. Yet, despite pleading with local police, they said they couldn’t remove his weapons. This is because Vermont laws do not align with federal law that prohibits convicted felons from owning firearms — Vermont law applies only to convicted violent felons. Local law enforcement can’t enforce the federal law and must refer cases to the federal authorities (and frequently those federal authorities do not have the resources to prosecute these cases unless they are coupled with other crimes). We were stuck in this muddy middle ground. 

We tried every avenue to intervene safely, from frequently calling local police to working with our town leadership and Vermont agencies. Unfortunately, we were often dismissed and told to “talk to our neighbor.” 

This is not a remotely safe suggestion, particularly as a woman, and especially when one side is armed and behaving erratically. The situation increasingly became more hostile because of our intervention attempts.

In a culmination of our neighbor’s rage, he showed up intoxicated on the road in front of our house, shooting what sounded to be an assault weapon. Later that night, my partner heard the neighbor loudly screaming that he was going to murder my partner. 

The police couldn’t do anything. He wasn’t arrested, and he kept his guns.

This ongoing intimidation continued. He incessantly shot off his assault weapons and other explosives. We didn’t feel safe in our home. We were startled by headlights in our driveway or cars driving slowly by our house. I left the state to stay with family because the fear of violence was too overwhelming.  

Weeks later, the man, armed, went to other neighbors and threatened to kill them, too. Saying things like, “I’ll shoot you both right between the eyes; you won’t even see it coming”. Again, the police showed up, but their ability to arrest him or take away his guns was limited.

A few weeks after the death threats — after almost a year of armed threats and intimidation to local police, us, and neighbors — he was finally issued a search warrant. He was arrested and his guns were seized in August 2021. The judge confirmed our fears and held him without bail, stating that the man was a threat to himself and others. He is now in federal prison awaiting trial.

Here’s the real kicker: We learned that the family had submitted affidavits fearing for their lives in September 2020. In these affidavits, the family said he owned guns and feared he would “shoot us up at night and kill us all.” It took numerous death threats to multiple families for anything to happen. 

The family’s affidavit a year prior should have been just cause for a search warrant. But again, Vermont laws are lacking. It’s a tragedy that our laws are wholly inadequate in disarming abusers. I applaud the representatives who recently passed legislation to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and others with dangerous histories.

Until people experience gun violence, they may not fully understand its myriad and long-lasting social, physical and emotional health impacts. We experienced victim-blaming — people claimed it was our fault or assumed we were overreacting. People we considered friends didn’t believe us and turned against us. 

Despite moving to a new home, the sounds of gunshots still cause a whirlwind of panic and anxiety. The nightmares haven’t stopped. Long-term trauma can be significantly worse for those who have witnessed or been victims in shootings.

Unfortunately, my story is not uncommon. 

As we honor National Gun Violence Survivors Week , it is important to note that 58 percent percent of American adults are survivors of gun violence, either experiencing gun violence themselves or caring for someone who has experienced gun violence in their lifetimes. If you are one of these people: I see you. I believe you. And there are millions of others who do, too. 

I am now an advocate for ending gun violence. My hope is that no one will have to live through what we did. That people won’t have to flee their homes because state laws aren’t protecting them, or won’t. That no one will lose their lives to unchecked gun ownership.

In a country plagued by a gun violence epidemic, the hurdles to changing the status quo sometimes feel insurmountable. But we will not stop fighting. 

Victims or survivors of gun violence can find resources and support through the Everytown Survivor Network.