Dozens of violence prevention leaders from across the country convened in Chicago in March to discuss how to achieve “the safest world possible by 2040,” according to a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A first-of-its-kind meeting for the journal, the JAMA Summit on Reducing Firearm Violence and Harms brought together 60 experts in public health, medicine, law and economics to “chart a roadmap toward reducing firearm violence, injuries, and deaths in the country,” a JAMA spokesperson said in an email.
“Firearm-related injuries remain one of the most pressing public health crises in the U.S.,” said Charles Branas, chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a co-author of the JAMA study.
“Gun violence is not something that happens to ‘other people’ in ‘other places’; it is an American problem that touches all of us — through grief, fear, and lost opportunity. Gun violence is everyone’s problem. We won’t break this cycle by doing the same things and expecting different results,” Branas said in a statement about the report.
Key takeaways
One of the big takeaways in the report, published in JAMA in November, includes focusing on reframing gun violence as a preventable issue: “There is a need for a normative shift in how people understand, prevent and respond to increasing firearm availability, firearm carrying in public places, and firearm harms,” the report reads.
That shift includes changing attitudes and beliefs about firearm ownership, safety and the likelihood of surviving to adulthood, all of which “may help reduce multiple drivers of injury,” according to the report.
This is an area where health reporters can improve the public’s understanding of firearm violence. For example, the report points out that even though homicide rates have dropped dramatically after peaking in 2021, more people believe that crime is increasing. Reporters should be covering this drop and putting those figures into context.
Another misconception explained in the report is the belief that law enforcement and stringent punishment are the only ways to prevent community violence. Instead, “highly focused and fair law enforcement, especially in strategic collaboration with street outreach, social services, and public health, can significantly reduce firearm violence when properly implemented.”
That’s another point that reporters can explore in their communities, along with other community violence intervention techniques.
Steps toward safety
During the summit, the leaders outlined five steps to improve public safety by 2040, according to the report.
They called for a “research revolution.” They also said the national narrative on gun violence needs to change to garner broad support for solutions that bring people together rather than polarize them.
The other steps called for strengthening communities, taking a “whole-government” and “whole-society” approach to addressing violence and harnessing regulatory and technological opportunities responsibly.
“The Summit’s vision for 2040 is a country where firearm violence is substantially reduced and all communities feel safe from firearm harms,” Branas said in the statement. “We need new ideas and new programs — innovations that prevent shootings before they occur, support people and places at highest risk, and address the upstream conditions that fuel gun violence. With science, accountability, and community leadership, we can make safety a lasting reality.”
One big focus of the summit was on sustaining and supporting community violence intervention programs. That looks like stable funding, professional training for violence interrupters and further integration into healthcare and city systems.
Among the other topics covered included cutting-edge, locally initiated gun violence prevention strategies; innovations in firearms, ammunition and community safety tech; advances in market-ready firearm safety technology; and changing fundamental structures that lead to gun violence in the first place, according to a statement about the report.
Story ideas
- Cover the ongoing drop in violent crime happening in the U.S. and remember to put those figures into context. How big of a drop is happening in your area? What strategies and prevention efforts are working? What isn’t? (See our coverage of the ongoing drop in violence here and here.)
- The report calls for more research on gun violence. What hurdles are getting in the way of that? Government and private funding? Interest from journals? Who is actively supporting this research?
- Continue to cover prevention strategies. What is working in your area? How committed are the local authorities to supporting violence prevention?
- Cover the public’s perception of violence. How does your community view violence? How can your newsroom correct any misconceptions?
