Protecting Youth From Unintentional Firearm Injury: Addressing the Research Gaps
Reducing the risk of unintentional firearm injury and death among children requires urgent action, particularly as gun sales in the U.S. have spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This policy brief, co-authored by PolicyLab and the Center for Violence Prevention, builds out recommendations for research to determine which policies work to prevent firearm injury among youth. The brief also identifies policies that have enough evidence behind them to warrant immediate action, including comprehensive background checks and child access prevention (CAP) laws.
We hope this resource will encourage action at the state and federal levels to support evidence-based policy decisions, and will drive research and funding to fill evidence gaps to protect children and communities from the dangers of firearms.
For a full review of the existing evidence on policies and practices to prevent unintentional firearm injury and death among children, read our accompanying Evidence to Action brief.