Firearm violence roundtable session to advance research and policy agendas

In the United States, firearms are involved in nearly 100,000 deaths and injuries each year. In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued a report in 2004 detailing the strengths and limitations of existing research on the relationship between firearms and violence. In 2005, a multidisciplinary group of experts, the National Collaborative on Firearm Violence, came together to 1) critically review the main findings of the NAS report, and 2) define a research agenda that could fill research and data gaps and inform policy that reduces gun-related crime, deaths, and injuries. The Collaborative's recommendations will be published shortly in Injury Prevention. The Firearm Violence roundtable session, led by members of the Collaborative, will be a springboard for implementing these recommendations and developing collaborations among the public health community for each topic area. Members of the Collaborative will moderate in-depth discussion for the following roundtables: 1) policies to improve data collection, data quality, and data access; 2) ideas for formative research, pilot studies, and overcoming obstacles to research funding; 3) a research agenda on firearms and suicide; 4) partnerships between university-based researchers and community-based professionals in law enforcement and criminal justice; and 5) partnerships between university-based researchers and public health, healthcare, and other community-based service providers. This roundtable will help assure that the recommendations of the Collaborative and all interested individuals are translated into a research and policy agenda that advances the state of knowledge for firearm injury prevention.