The toll of America’s gun violence epidemic is usually measured in lives lost—more than 35,000 each year. Ignored, almost completely, are the many more people who are shot every year, and survive.

Shot and Forgotten, The Trace

Nearly 40,000 people die from gun violence in the US every year. This uniquely American crisis leaves no community untouched—but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Gabrielle Giffords

The Forgotten Survivors of Gun Violence collects 20 personal essays of survivors’ visible and invisible wounds from school shootings, attempted suicide by firearm, mass shootings, gang violence, and domestic violence. Their stories remind us that these traumatic experiences are not exclusive to combat soldiers but, more notably, suffered by ordinary people during modern life. With this collection, editors Loren Kleinman, Shavaun Scott, Sandy Phillips and Lonnie Phillips expose the true lifecycle of a bullet and the trauma left in its wake. Through personal narratives and select personal photos, the wounded tell a story that’s forgotten when the cameras go away. This collection will be of interest to first responders, officers, therapists, medical practitioners, and educators.