GUNSNew Firearms Safety Grants Explore Reporting Systems, Safe Storage, Childhood Injuries, More

As part of a broad federal investment focused on reducing firearm-related injuries and deaths, five research teams at the University of Michigan recently received grants totaling $2.1 million to launch new projects that identify the root causes of and find solutions for firearms injuries and deaths in the United States.

The grants from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health were awarded to six U-M researchers affiliated with U-M’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention to lead multiple projects focused on specific firearms violence issues, including:

·  Prevention strategies for unintentional firearm-related harms in early childhood

·  Interventions for suicide prevention

·  Strategies to help reduce firearm violence among minority youth

·  Firearms injury prevention for rural families

More than 48,000 individuals across the U.S. died in 2021 as a result of firearm injuries, and guns are the leading cause of death nationwide for children and teens ages 1 to 19.

In recent years, federal agencies and foundations have increased funding support for firearms safety and injury prevention research to reverse those statistics. Funded projects and programs explore a range of topics such as identifying underlying causes for gun violence and determining the efficacy of programs and policies implemented to reduce firearm injury outcomes.

“As a university research community, we have an obligation to use our knowledge, skills and partnerships to apply injury prevention science to find solutions that reduce firearm injuries and deaths, ultimately making our communities safer across Michigan and the nation,” said Patrick Carter, co-director of U-M’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and associate professor of emergency medicine and of health behavior and health education.

The newly announced CDC grants will fund:

·  “Firearm safety and injury prevention during early childhood: A parent engagement approach” (the three-year project will receive $649,828 the first year). Alison Miller, research assistant professor at the School of Public Health, and Hsing-Fang Hsieh, research assistant professor and evaluation director for the National Center for School Safety at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, will lead the study to assess parents’ perceptions of risk and engage firearm-owning parents of children age 5 and under in a mixed-methods, community-based project and pilot program on parent-delivered interventions.