National Research Collaborative Funds New Research into Firearm Suicide, Urban Gun Violence, Impacts on Gun Users

The National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research has funded new research on critical gun policy topics including firearm suicide among women and racial and ethnic minorities, reducing gun violence among at-risk youth, and the impacts of gun policies on gun users.

This round of funding includes four new research awards, one extension to an existing project, three postdoctoral awards, and one dissertation award, totaling $950,000 in funding.

The new grants mark the Collaborative’s third major investment in research into gun violence prevention, bringing the total funding to $21 million across 44 research projects.

With the deadly toll from gun violence increasing in many United States cities in the past year, Collaborative director Andrew Morral said it was critically important to build a strong evidence base for what works and what doesn’t work to prevent gun violence.

“These projects address some of the key unanswered questions about gun violence and will help to inform policies and programs that save lives.”

The funded projects include:

• A study applying machine learning to better understand the risk factors for firearm suicide among women.
• An analysis of the relationship between firearm ownership and suicide among racial and ethnic minorities.
• A study examining how outreach workers engage with high-risk young people involved with violence.
• Development of a survey-based measure to understand the harms and benefits of gun policies on gun users. This award was funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

In this funding round, the Collaborative sought new research proposals focused on two topic areas: firearm suicides, and the rights and interests of gun owners, as well as dissertation or postdoctoral awards, and supplemental awards to expand existing Collaborative-funded work.

Collaborative Research Advisory Committee chair Frank M. Clark said the projects were selected for their scientific rigor, and because they could answer important questions about how to prevent gun violence.

“Research is a key step in reducing polarization in the discussion of gun policy and developing evidence-based policies to address the growing problem of gun violence in this country,” he said.

The Collaborative is funded through philanthropic donations and is administered by the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. It was seeded with a $20 million gift from Arnold Ventures and has been supported by contributions from other organizations, including Wells Fargo, Missouri Foundation for Health, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.

Read the full details on the funded projects »