Restrictions on gun-related injury research have hindered progress on reducing gun violence. Unless this restriction in lifted, public health science on firearms has effectively been muffled.

Silencing the Science on Gun Research

Arthur L. Kellermann, Frederick P. Rivara

ResearchPosted on rand.org 2012Published in: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, v. 309, no. 6, Feb. 13, 2013, p. 549-550

This commentary describes pro-gun lobbying activities that have successfully prevented federal funding for research on firearm injuries. The authors argue that restrictions on such research have made it impossible for researchers to achieve with firearm violence the public health successes that have been achieved for automobile crashes and deaths from drowning and fires.

Key Takeaways

  • Restrictions on gun-related injury research have hindered progress on reducing gun violence.
  • Unless this restriction is lifted, public health science on firearms violence has effectively been muffled.
Read More

Topics

Document Details

This publication is part of the RAND external publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.