Every day, with the inevitability of a sunrise, more than 300 Americans are shot. Many of those lucky enough to survive will face uncertain recoveries, and can be saddled with lifelong disabilities. Like sailors lost at sea, squinting for a hint of land, they search desperately for tools that can help them eke out an existence.
Functional wheelchairs.
Safe, accessible housing.
Some way of sorting through the scattered federal, state, and local government programs that might offer assistance, if only their rules were easy to decipher.
The ranks of survivors who are forced to solve these puzzles continue to swell, in rural towns and big cities alike. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence estimates that more than 114,000 people are shot in the U.S. every year. In 2020, at least 2,240 people were shot in Philadelphia; as of Feb. 3, the city has already recorded 202 shootings, 40 of which have been fatal.