Problem
Violence:
According to the World Health Organization (2019), "Among people aged 15-44 years, interpersonal violence and suicide rank third and fourth respectively among the world's leading causes of ill-health and premature mortality... A large proportion of these occur through the use of firearms." In the U.S., the estimated total number of privately-owned guns ranges from 265 million to more than 300 million. In a 2018 New York Times article, reporter Kaplan examined federal restrictions on research into gun-related morbidity and mortality. In the 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that bringing a gun into the home increased the risk for gun-related violence among those living in the home. In response, the NRA successfully lobbied Congress to stop CDC funding for research on gun violence. Thus, public health data on gun violence related to person, place, and time are not readily available since there is no routine surveillance of gun violence in the U.S. Some information is available based on National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research on gun-related accidental deaths among children, adolescents, and military veterans. A major roadblock is the Tiahrt Amendments.
1) What policy-level interventions are being implemented in some states to prevent gun-related injury and death, and what is the evidence that they work?
2) How can nurses advocate for a reduction in gun violence?