Jacksonville's historic landfill ties lead poisoning to soaring child gun injuries

A former incinerator ash landfill called Brown’s Dump in Jacksonville, Florida, was used from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s before a school and housing were constructed on the contaminated ground, exposing Black residents to lead, arsenic and other hazards. A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study found that early-life lead exposure raises the likelihood of firearm violence, and hospital billing records reveal at least 375 children in Jacksonville have been treated for gun injuries since 2018, with a concentration in the redlined ZIP codes 32206, 32208 and 32209.

Activists and health experts argue the legacy of redlining, incomplete cleanup, and recent city actions—such as placing a new medical examiner’s office in the Brentwood neighborhood—intensify trauma and inequality. A 2023 settlement forced Ameris Bank to address alleged discriminatory lending, yet community leaders say remediation alone cannot repair decades of disinvestment. Calls for comprehensive public-health strategies, housing, education and economic development echo physicians who view lead removal as essential to curbing gun violence.