Delayed & denied: How Social Security leaves gun violence survivors behind

For more than 25 years, Clark James made his living as a truck driver. The 45-year old father of three, whom we’ve assigned a pseudonym because his Social Security case is ongoing, earned $46,000 in his last year of work. But that all changed last summer. One evening, James was hanging out with friends in North Carolina when gunfire suddenly broke out. One of the bullets tore through his stomach and exited out of his back, where he had undergone spinal surgery a few years before. Since his injury, James has been unable to sit down for long periods of time without pain. “After getting shot where I got shot at, and with the bullet exiting where it exited at, my body, my back, is never going to feel the same,” he said. Unable to return to work, James decided to apply for Social Security disability benefits. But his initial application was recently denied because the Social Security Administration (SSA) said they had determined he would be able to adjust to other work. The decision left him frustrated and confused. “They put you through so much [during] the process, and then you’re waiting all this time to receive a no,”...