Firearm Safety
gun safety and safe storage
Strategies to reduce firearms-related injuries and deaths among all ages include safer storage practices and gun violence prevention policies.
Our Research and Practice Action Teams (RPATs) are topical areas of focus.
In 2020, firearm-related injuries became the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the U.S., surpassing motor vehicle crashes. Firearm-related injuries can be from homicide, school shootings, and suicide but can also be unintentional (by accidently shooting a gun). Children can seek out or discover a gun in their home, or in a relative or friend’s home, or can have an incident while hunting.
Firearm homicide rates are highest among teens and among Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Hispanic or Latino populations. Gun violence disparities reflect racial inequities. Harms from gun violence include both physical harm and the emotional trauma of witnessing a shooting, losing someone to a shooting, and hearing gunshots nearby.
Research resources
Blog posts
New research
- Perpetrator characteristics and firearm use in pediatric homicides: Supplementary Homicide Reports – United States, 1976 to 2020
- Firearm exposure and safety training of rural Iowa youth
- Rural youth’s exposure to firearm violence and their attitudes regarding firearm safety measures
- Firearm exposure and storage practices in the homes of rural adolescents
Partners in firearms safety
- UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital
- UI Center for Social Science Innovation
- Polk County Health Department
- Be SMART
- Law enforcement agencies in Iowa
Our Firearm Safety team includes a UI Research Team Lead and a Practice Team Lead:
- Mark Berg, PhD, Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology; Director, Crime and Justice Policy Research Program and UI Center for Social Science Innovation
- Kristel Wetjen, RN, Pediatric Trauma Nurse Coordinator, UI Hospitals and Clinics
Explore other RPATs