Surgeon general declares firearm violence a public health crisis: U-M experts available

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has declared firearm violence a public health crisis, saying it’s time to deploy approaches similar to lifesaving anti-smoking and traffic safety campaigns to decrease deaths and injuries caused by guns. 

Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, School of Public Health and Michigan Medicine have endorsed this framework for decades, sharing critical data supporting this approach. They are available for interviews on the surgeon general’s announcement.

To reach any of the experts, email [email protected].

Patrick Carter is co-director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and associate professor of emergency medicine and health behavior and health education. His research focuses on firearm injury prevention across the spectrum, from understanding the epidemiology of the problem to prevention-focused solutions for at-risk individuals and communities. His research letter in the New England Journal of Medicine was cited in the surgeon general’s advisory as was his study in Health Affairs on federal funding for firearm research. 

“Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States,” he said. “Injury prevention science played a crucial role in reducing automobile death and injury, with this public health success achieved by employing a comprehensive, data driven approach that addressed multiple facets of the problem.

“We have a similar opportunity to use evidence-based strategies to solve the firearm violence crisis while respecting law-abiding citizens. The surgeon general’s advisory shows both the critical point we find ourselves in as a nation, and delineates a roadmap for how we as a nation can solve this issue.”

Jason Goldstick, a research associate professor of emergency medicine and at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, has extensive expertise in statistical analyses. His current work focuses on violence and substance use, epidemiology, firearm surveillance and behavioral intervention treatments. His research letter in the New England Journal of Medicine was cited in the surgeon general’s advisory as was his study in Health Affairs on federal funding for firearm research. 

“It is encouraging to see the surgeon general cast this as the public health crisis it is,” Goldstick said. “We have seen past successes in addressing other types of injury using a public health approach, most notably motor vehicle crashes. I am hopeful that the surgeon general highlighting this issue can catalyze further progress at multiple levels—individual, community and societal—to address this worsening problem.”

He notes that the graph in the surgeon general’s advisory extends the data period from the original research letter on causes of child and adolescent death out two more years.  

“This makes it evident that the finding of our research letter was not an anomalous result related to dynamics of the early COVID-19 pandemic; the sharp increases in firearm injury and drug overdose mortality among children and adolescents we saw in 2020 have been maintained in the two most recent years of official data,” he said.

April Zeoli is an associate professor of health management and policy and research associate professor at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. Her main fields of investigation are the prevention of firearm violence, intimate partner violence and homicide through the use of policy and law. She is one of the nation’s leading experts on policy interventions for firearm use in intimate partner violence and on the use and implementation of extreme risk protection order laws. Her research in Epidemiologic Reviews on firearm-related intimate partner violence was cited in the advisory.

“Research suggests that policies like domestic violence protective order firearm restrictions are associated with a reduction in intimate partner homicide. The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that these laws are constitutional,” Zeoli said. “Studies also suggest that when an intimate partner homicide involves a gun, the risk of additional victims, such as children, being killed increases. 

“In fact, there is a link between mass shootings and perpetrators of intimate partner violence, so our focus must be on evidence-based research, policies and laws, such as restraining orders, to protect potential victims. Extreme risk protection orders may also be part of the solution. The surgeon general’s advisory brings this issue to the forefront and shares the importance of using research science to make a real, lasting impact on society’s most pressing issues.”

Justin Heinze is an associate professor of health behavior and health education and the director of the School Safety Section at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. His research investigates how schools influence disparities in violence and other risk outcomes from an ecological perspective that includes individual, interpersonal and contextual influences on development. 

“Ensuring school and community safety strategies is paramount, and the surgeon general’s advisory outlines the importance of utilizing the existing evidence base to evaluate such strategies,” Heinze said. “Developing upstream prevention strategies in addition to real-time solutions are both crucial aspects of safety plans, and proper implementation is key. Firearm injury and death is preventable if we work together to tailor solutions and make sure they are working as intended.”