Conference Presentation, Panel
Gun Violence as a Public Health Crisis
Milken InstituteEdward Greissing, Dan Diamond, Megan L. Ranney, Babak Sarani, Leana Wen, Mallory Williams, Chris Corey, Josh Wright, Hazelwood
- Growing recognition by major medical organizations and Democratic candidates frames gun violence as a public health epidemic, attracting new funding from entities like the Arnold Foundation and Kaiser, with expectations that this language will shift public consciousness toward viewing the issue as a preventable and treatable disease rather than a purely political one.
- Panelists predict that waiting for sweeping federal legislation similar to national seatbelt or drunk driving laws is futile, citing a historical lack of such laws, while emphasizing that a comprehensive approach combining data, interventions, enforcement, training, and local responses is necessary to avoid a false dichotomy between solving issues entirely through laws or not using laws at all.
- Local interventions, such as expanding the Safe Streets model to 20 sites in Baltimore, are expected to be effective if secured by city council, mayor's office, and state legislature funding, though experts note that an overarching federal response remains critical to address the trafficking of weapons from states with weaker laws, which currently accounts for 80 percent of crime-linked weapons in New York and Maryland.
- The CDC is anticipated to play a national role similar to its involvement in the opioid epidemic, provided locally appropriate programs are developed, while federal intervention is deemed required to bypass current privacy laws that prevent tracking patients surviving mass shootings to create a verified database.
- Significant financial gaps are highlighted with expectations that billions of dollars are needed for research given gun violence is the second leading cause of death for children, contrasting with current spending of less than 2 percent of the predicted amount, though the field has seen a shift over the last eight years where research now builds reputations rather than endangering careers.
- Strategic legislative targets are expected to shift away from banning assault rifles, which may be viewed as a distraction, toward high-capacity clips (over 10 rounds) and evidence-based approaches like domestic violence restrictions and lethal means restriction counseling, as police response times may be ineffective when permitted round counts exceed their capacity.
- A holistic strategy is expected to be necessary to avoid the "single magic bullet" fallacy, recognizing that firearm safety is interrelated with social determinants of health such as poverty and lead poisoning, and that structural racism has influenced disparities similar to the delayed attention given to the opioid epidemic until it affected suburban and rural white populations.
- Future progress is anticipated to be driven by the activism of children from Parkland, the implementation of "red flag laws" which work in jurisdictions that adopt them, and commercial sector actions like insurance rate adjustments and retailer policy changes that may drive more movement than policy alone.
- Success is expected to rely on widespread education, service delivery, and community engagement—such as trauma centers participating in school adoption programs and conflict resolution conversations long before crises occur—rather than policy enactment alone, as existing safe storage laws are currently rarely enforced.
- Conversations regarding gun storage are projected to be more effective if framed as harm reduction to avoid judgment, while experts note that political action may require specific states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin to become wholly vested in the issue, acknowledging that the political divide cannot be fully solved but can be addressed incrementally.
- Researchers are expected to continue facing difficulties obtaining local funding despite current enthusiasm, yet there is optimism that tremendous progress will occur due to physician activism, with the panel suggesting that federal funding or data access could remove the burden of conducting mass shooting studies from the research community.