Medical professionals have a front-row seat to the devastating effects of our country’s gun violence epidemic. We need their voices and public health perspective in this fight.
United for Gun Safety
As of 2021, gun-related injuries became the leading cause of death for children in the United States, and no one is as acutely aware of the impact of guns on a body as medical professionals. Gun violence is a public health crisis that demands a public health solution, which is why Giffords is proud to work alongside doctors, nurses, and others in the medical field in the fight to end gun violence.
Beginning in the late 1990s, Congress placed a freeze on funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study this issue. But in the years since then, the number of guns and gun deaths in the United States rose to unimaginable levels, demanding national attention. In 2018, Giffords joined with 14 leading medical and public health organizations to urge Congress to fund research to address America’s gun violence crisis. Together, we sent a letter to congressional leadership explaining that over the past several decades, scientific and medical research has led to policies that have saved countless lives related to automobiles, public sanitation, and cancer—gun violence should not be an exception. We organized on a grassroots level too, holding rallies in Colorado, Louisiana, and Florida, calling on each state’s senators to lift the ban on funding gun violence research.
In an historic move, the House passed a bill in 2019 that appropriated $50 million in research funding to the CDC and NIH, proving what we already knew to be true: medical professionals, their voices, and their experiences are key to fighting gun violence.
Our work with medical and public health professionals continues today as we partner with state and national groups like SAFE (Scrubs Against the Firearm Epidemic). Through these relationships, we encourage organization leaders to prioritize gun safety issues, teach health care providers how to approach patients about gun safety in the home, and advocate for research funding through the CDC and NIH. To learn more about the intersection of public health and gun violence or how you can get involved, please email info@giffords.org.
TAKE ACTION
The gun safety movement is on the march: Americans from different background are united in standing up for safer schools and communities. Join us to make your voice heard and power our next wave of victories.
GET INVOLVED
