A gun violence 'action plan' calls for a new emphasis on prevention

Community members gathered successful Minneapolis for a candlelight vigil to grant nan victims and survivors of nan shooting astatine Annunciation Catholic School successful Minneapolis Wednesday, August 27, 2025. Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune/Getty Images

In nan past 25 years, nan U.S. has seen much than 800,000 deaths from weapon violence, and different 2 cardinal aliases much injuries. A caller study offers a roadmap to trim nan quality toll of this situation by 2040.

Sixty starring experts from a scope of fields, including medicine, nationalist health, criminology, rule and nan exertion sector, convened earlier this twelvemonth to create an action scheme to reside nan problem. The study was published successful JAMA connected Monday.

"For excessively long, I deliberation we've treated this arsenic inevitable," says Dr. Joseph Sakran, a co-author of nan study, trauma surgeon and executive vice chair of room astatine Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Gun unit is now nan starring origin of decease successful children and teens, though nan immense mostly of firearm deaths are among adults. And astir 60% of each deaths from firearm injuries are suicides.

"We do person a assemblage of subject that tin pass and trim nan load of injuries from firearm violence," says Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of nan schoolhouse of nationalist wellness astatine Washington University successful St Louis, and study co-author.

"For example, done laws that make judge that location is due screening, that guns do not autumn successful nan hands of group who person a history of violence."

The authors support alternatives to nan emblematic attack to addressing firearm violence, which has been done nan criminal justness system.

"We are not saying we don't request immoderate apprehension aliases immoderate incarceration," says study co-author Daniel Webster, a professor astatine nan Center for Gun Violence Solutions astatine Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "That's still basal for nationalist information purposes. But you request to put successful programs that forestall violence."

The roadmap outlined by nan study includes taking a community-wide attack to prevention by addressing socioeconomic inequalities.

"Firearm harm is simply a denotation of deeper structural issues erstwhile you deliberation astir poorness and segregation and trauma and deficiency of opportunity," says Sakran, who is himself a subsister of weapon violence. When he was 17 years old, he was critically injured astatine a shooting aft a precocious schoolhouse shot game.

Studies show that addressing those "upstream" factors tin forestall weapon violence, says Sakran.

"Things for illustration lodging stability, having a beardown acquisition system, a pathway for jobs, entree to wellness care, which are arsenic basal to unit prevention arsenic possibly possibly immoderate different rule enforcement strategy," he adds.

One specified organization unit involution successful Chicago, called Create Real Economic Destiny, uses organization organizations to place nan individuals astir astatine consequence of being progressive successful convulsive crime and enlistee them to person supports specified arsenic intelligence wellness care, mentorship, acquisition and occupation training.

A 2023 study found that alumni of this programme had a 73% little chance of being progressive successful a convulsive crime successful nan pursuing 2 years.

Webster and his colleagues person recovered that a akin programme successful Baltimore, called Safe Streets, led to a 32% simplification successful homicides and a 23% simplification successful non-fatal shootings.

State weapon laws besides make a difference, says Webster. For example, a caller study in JAMA Pediatrics showed that states pinch much restrictive weapon laws person less pediatric deaths from firearms.

Webster and his colleagues person shown that firearm licensing laws "can trim firearm homicide astir 30% aliases perchance more. "And akin effects connected reducing firearm suicide," he says.

Overall, nan study calls for a multi-pronged attack to prevention.

"In America, nan load [of addressing weapon violence] has often been placed connected nan shoulders of a fewer people," says Sakran. "What this study is talking astir is nan corporate action that is truthful captious successful bid to move nan needle forward."