RFA-CE-23-006: Research grants to rigorously evaluate innovative and promising strategies to prevent firearm-related violence and injuries
This initiative supports research to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to keep individuals, families, schools, and communities safe from firearm-related violence, injuries, deaths, or crime.
Rigorous examination of anonymous reporting system data to prevent youth suicide and firearm violence: an applied natural language approach
- Two-year project: September 30, 2023-September 29, 2025
- Principal investigator: Justin Heinze, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- First-year award: $350,000
This study will analyze school-based anonymous and confidential reporting system submissions to characterize the types of tips reported, what factors influence student tip submissions and content, and whether exposure to training influences tip behavior and content.
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Anonymous and confidential reporting systems (ARS) and school-based tip lines are designed to help students share concerning or suspicious behaviors. These systems eliminate barriers to reporting, such as the social cost of "tattling," helping students identify and report threats correctly, and creating school safety. Despite their widespread adoption and availability, there is limited data measuring how well these systems function and if they prevent firearm and other violent injuries in school. To define the type of tips reported, what influences student tip submissions, and whether training influences tip behavior, the study will use a large data set of more than 17,000 tips submitted to a statewide ARS over five years. Schools and reporting systems can use the findings to identify strategies and best practices for improving anonymous and confidential reporting systems.
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Do state alcohol-related firearm laws reduce mortality? A multi-component impact evaluation
- Two-year project: September 30, 2023-September 29, 2025
- Principal investigator: James Macinko, University of California, Los Angeles
- First-year award: $349,898
This study will identify public policies that target the intersection of alcohol and firearms and provide a rigorous evaluation of their potential impacts on firearm-related homicide, suicide, and unintentional deaths over 2010 to 2022.
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This study will evaluate the potential impact of state alcohol-related firearm laws on firearm-related homicide, suicide and unintentional deaths by analyzing state statutes using machine learning techniques and causal inference methods. Additional analyses will study whether these laws impact the incidence of intimate partner homicide. In addition to publishing findings from the analyses, the study team will produce an interactive web-based tool for public use that allows users to understand alcohol and firearm policies in their states, as well as firearm-related deaths in their states over time. Results from this study will be used to assess the effectiveness of these approaches in reducing U.S. firearm-related deaths.
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Leveraging individual-level data to evaluate policies targeting acute risk periods for firearm violence: extreme risk protective orders and waiting periods in California
- Two-year project: September 30, 2023-September 29, 2025
- Principal investigator: Sonja Swanson, University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh
- First-year award: $333,217
This study will rigorously quantify the effects of extreme risk protection order (ERPO) and waiting period laws on mortality risk among handgun owners and the people they live with.
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Many firearm deaths, including suicides and homicides related to household violence, occur during periods of heightened stress. As such, some suicide and violence prevention strategies focus on reducing firearm access during those periods of stress, including applying ERPO laws to proactively and temporarily remove firearms and using mandatory waiting-period laws to delay firearm access. Using the Longitudinal Study of Handgun Ownership and Transfers (LongSHOT), an established cohort of over 25 million adults in California, research from this study will help estimate the effect of California's ERPO law on the risk of suicide among handgun owners and homicide among people who live with handgun owners. This study will help build the evidence base for understanding the effects of ERPO and waiting period policies.
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The confluence of state bullying policies and firearm policies in reducing youth gun carrying and fatality
- Two-year project: September 30, 2023-September 29, 2025
- Principal investigator: Ziming Xuan, Boston University Medical Campus
- First-year award: $348,515
This study will assess the confluence of state-level bullying policies and firearm policies on reducing youth gun carrying and firearm-related fatality from 1999 to 2021.
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Little is known about how youth-focused health policies impact youth gun violence, including state bullying or firearm policies. The goal of this study is to improve the evidence base for youth firearm prevention by conducting a comprehensive evaluation to assess state-level bullying policies and firearm policies on youth gun carrying and firearm-related deaths. This research will provide evidence on the effectiveness of policy strategies in reducing youth firearm violence and how these youth-specific policies may impact certain youth populations who are at higher risk for gun violence.
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Preventing firearm-related harm through domestic violence protection order firearm prohibitions and relinquishment
- Three-year project: September 30, 2023-September 29, 2026
- Principal investigator: Alice Ellyson, Seattle Children's Hospital
- First-year award: $650,000
This study will rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of implementing domestic violence protection order (DVPO) firearm prohibitions in reducing subsequent firearm-related crime, injury, and death of victim-survivors/petitioners, protected minors, and respondents.
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Domestic violence is a substantial public health and safety problem with lasting consequences for individuals, families, and communities. Firearms play a major role in domestic violence harm, and American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and multiracial women disproportionately experience this harm. According to federal law, individuals who are under domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs) are prohibited from purchasing and possessing firearms. These restrictions are not consistently implemented or enforced across the United States. This study will collect new data on around 12,500 DVPOs and firearm-related harm in Washington state to assess if DVPOs reduce firearm-related injury, crime, and death. Findings from this study will provide actionable information for local and state policymakers and professionals.
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Store Safely: firearm injury prevention for rural families
- Three-year project: September 30, 2023-September 29, 2026
- Principal investigator: Cynthia Ewell Foster, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- First-year award: $470,325
This study will evaluate Store Safely, a multicomponent online primary prevention strategy designed via a university-community partnership for rural families who own firearms.
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Firearm injuries are the leading cause of death among youth in the United States, and rates of firearm-related suicides among rural youth are increasing at an alarming rate. Reducing access to firearms is a key component of suicide prevention because most suicide attempts with a firearm are fatal. Although safe firearm storage reduces the risk of firearm injury and death, few interventions are tailored to rural communities where firearms are prevalent and are part of community and family culture. Disparities in access to health care also limit opportunities for safe storage education. This study will use a community-based participatory research approach and other methods to test Store Safely, an innovative and highly scalable online intervention. If found to be effective, Store Safely can potentially reduce suicide mortality in rural areas by focusing on the strengths of rural communities to enhance safety.
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Pediatric trauma centers RE-AIM at gun safety
- Three-year project: September 30, 2023-September 29, 2026
- Principal investigator: Katherine Hoops, Johns Hopkins University
- First-year award: $647,776
This study will implement a universal firearm injury prevention initiative in three pediatric trauma centers to demonstrate best practices for pediatric trauma center-based firearm injury prevention strategies that promote safe storage practices and reduce firearm-related injury and death. The study will use the RE-AIM (Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) methodology for evaluation.
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For more than a decade, multiple national organizations have recommended universal firearm injury and violence prevention counseling for parents and patients, yet clinicians rarely deliver this counseling. This study will test the effectiveness of comprehensive training for improving the implementation of universal firearm injury prevention. Findings will help establish best practices for delivering firearm injury prevention screening and counseling within pediatric trauma centers. This research has the potential to impact clinical care, prevent firearm-related injury and death, and significantly improve implementation science.
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A virtual reality brief violence intervention: preventing gun violence among violently injured adults
- Three-year project: September 30, 2023-September 29, 2026
- Principal investigator: Nicholas Thomson, Virginia Commonwealth University
- First-year award: $649,965
This study will conduct a randomized control trial to assess the effectiveness of brief violence intervention virtual reality (BVI-VR) for preventing firearm-related violence, injury, and death.
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With rising gun violence rates, developing innovative interventions is critical to effectively engage adults at high-risk and prevent future firearm-related violence, injury, and death. Once discharged from a hospital, violently injured adults are at an increased risk of additional firearm-related violence and are more likely to engage in retaliatory violence. Because of this, the hospital has become a critical location for violence prevention. Patients who are most at risk of retaliatory violence are often difficult to engage in intervention; however, new strategies can help meet their interests and needs. This project will develop an innovative, brief hospital-based violence intervention using virtual reality and conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate its effectiveness for preventing retaliatory firearm-related violence, injury, and death among violently injured adults.
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