Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121485

Stephen P. Teret, JD, MPH, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-955-3995, steret@jhsph.edu

While many efforts to address public health problems have placed public health personnel in opposition to industries and their trade groups, gun violence prevention stands out among these efforts as a difficult and dangerous task. The ordinary rules of conduct are sometimes set aside by the enthusiasts of this particularly dangerous product. Organized opposition to gun researchers and policy analysts are likely to include not only questions about the appropriateness of their chosen methodologies, but also political attacks on their funding sources and sometimes death threats to the researchers and analysts. The existence of a “chilling effect” on public health efforts in this field is extreme. Examples of barriers to public health efforts to reduce gun violence, including threats to reputation, funding, and safety, will be discussed as well as their effects on the productivity and progress to the field of gun violence prevention.

Learning Objectives:

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.