The Firearm Injury Prevention Research Initiative engages the breadth of expertise across the University of Michigan, with input from nonacademic stakeholders, to generate knowledge and advance solutions that will decrease firearm injury in the United States.

Researchers in fields such as public health, medicine, social sciences, engineering, public policy and the arts work together to formulate and answer critical questions about firearm injury prevention, while respecting Second Amendment rights.

A steering committee comprised of faculty, staff and students from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses will help to identify ways to best catalyze firearm injury prevention research and scholarship. An external stakeholder committee, appointed by U-M, ensures a diversity of perspectives beyond academia, including national representation from gun owners, faith-based and K-12 leadership, law enforcement, rural and urban community groups, firearm violence survivors and families.

Firearm-related injuries resulted in nearly 40,000 deaths across the United States in 2017.

The initiative builds upon the university’s strengths in firearm injury prevention research. U-M has secured more federal research funding to study firearm injury prevention than any other U.S. university, totaling more than $6.5 million since 2017. U-M also operates the nation’s largest collection of firearm datasets, which features information ranging from school shootings to crime victim surveys that researchers can access to further study gun violence.

By creating stronger infrastructure for research, educational activities and community outreach related to firearm injury prevention, U-M can better address the complexity of this public health threat by integrating the perspectives of multiple disciplines to find solutions.