The resources and reading materials listed below have been compiled by the Gun Violence Initiative and are not meant to be comprehensive.
Provided by the Becker Medical Library and the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis, this guide will point to resources to raise awareness focusing on the issues surrounding gun violence as a public health issues in our nation.
Firearm injuries are the second leading cause of death in children. Safe storage is an essential step in ensuring that children are not harmed by bullets, an occurrence that happens all to often in the home. A study done by pediatric surgeons at the two children’s hospitals in St. Louis showed that 40% of pediatric firearm injuries were in fact unintentional injuries.
In an effort to reduce these injuries, this public service announcement video was released on September 10, 2019 in coordination with the Gun Violence Task Force committee hearing and represents an effort to help motivate and educate the public in best practices regarding firearm and ammunition storage in the home. Lead by trauma surgeons Dr. Joseph Sakran and Dr. Laurie Punch, fueled by the art of Ian Wood, a fourth year Washington University in St. Louis medical student, and brought to life through the writing and voice acting of Dr. Marty K. Casey, this collaboration of professionals represents the power of art and science working together to address a complex public health issue.
- Alive and Well STL | A community-wide effort focused on reducing the impact of stress and trauma on our health and well-being.
- Community Mediation Services of St. Louis | Local organization that helps bring people together to resolve differences.
- Crime Action Advocacy Center of St. Louis | CVAC provides resources, counseling, advocacy, and referral for thousands of victims of crime and their families.
- Lock it for Love | Provides free gun locks from Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice.
- AMA Gun Safety Module | The new module presents three different scenarios to help physicians determine the best approach for handling patient interactions. Available free on AMA Ed Hub™ and qualifies for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.
- Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence | Develops and implements extensive public health and safety programs and utilizes the courts to reduce gun violence.
- Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth (UNITY) | Utilizes a public health, or prevention, approach to violence.
- Gun Violence Archive | An online archive of gun violence incidents collected from over 1,200 media, government and commercial sources daily in an effort to provide near-real time data about the results of gun violence.
- Everytown for Gun Safety | Seeks to improve our understanding of the causes of gun violence and the means to reduce it – by conducting groundbreaking original research, developing evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge to the American public.
- The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence | Maintains the most comprehensive information on U.S. firearms regulation anywhere, including in-depth summaries of federal and state firearm laws and nationwide policies.
- Circuit Attorney’s Office | The Circuit Attorney’s Office has several different tools available to help you get involved in the criminal justice process. Whether you’re a victim of a crime or just want to make your neighborhood a safer place, there are several ways the Circuit Attorney’s Office can help.
- United Way of Greater St. Louis | United Way’s volunteer center allows you to search for opportunities in the Greater St. Louis area.
- Voting | The Missouri Elections and Voting page includes an Election Calendar and Initiative and Referendum Petitions for Missouri.
- After Bolden shooting, a public health perspective on gun violence | Aug. 30, 2015 St. Louis Public Radio story on the shooting of Jamyla Bolden and the potential for public health to address gun violence
- Association Between Gun Law Reforms and Intentional Firearm Deaths in Australia, 1979-2013 | from JAMA
- Commentary: Evidence to Guide Gun Violence Prevention in America | from the Annual Review of Public Health
- Cure Violence: A Public Health Model to Reduce Gun Violence | from the Annual Review of Public Health
- Editorial: Lessons From Australia’s National Firearms Agreement | from JAMA
- Effects of Policies Designed to Keep Firearms from High-Risk Individuals | from the Annual Review of Public Health
- Experts Discuss Mental Illness, Risk for Violence, and Gun Ownership | from Psychiatric News
- Firearm-Related Injury and Death in the United States: A Call to Action From 8 Health Professional Organizations and the American Bar Association | from the Annals of Internal Medicine
- Focused Deterrence and the Prevention of Violent Gun Injuries: Practice, Theoretical Principles, and Scientific Evidence | from the Annual Review of Public Health
- Modeling Contagion Through Social Networks to Explain and Predict Gunshot Violence in Chicago, 2006 to 2014 | from JAMA
- Priorities for a Public Health Research Agenda to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence | 2013 Report from the Institute of Medicine
- Study provides picture of firearm injuries, deaths among St. Louis-area children | Dec. 2015 story in the Washington University Record on recent study
- The Epidemiology of Firearm Violence in the Twenty-First Century United States | from the Annual Review of Public Health
- The True Cost of Gun Violence in America | Mother Jones
- The Trace | An online compendium of gun violence related news.
- Gun Violence Prevention from APHA | Articles, fact sheets, data sources, and other useful information about gun violence from the American Public Health Association.
- Be SMART Campaign | Handouts, resources, and tools to promote this campaign created to reduce unintentional child shootings.