Pediatrics Group Launches Gun Violence Research Initiative
The American Academy of Pediatrics announced it would fund new research into how gun violence affects children, a move that comes at a time when gun violence is in the news—and the federal government has effectively avoided research into the issue due to limitations imposed by federal law.
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Amid sustained public debate over gun violence since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last month—and as news broke of yet another shooting this week Great Mills, Maryland (opens in a new tab)—the American Academy of Pediatrics is launching a new initiative to find ways to prevent children from being injured by firearms.
The project will have three components: a summit of experts that will analyze existing data, a research study, and the implementation of ensuing recommendations in both clinical and community settings.
“Approaching these injuries as a public health epidemic, the Gun Safety and Injury Prevention Research Initiative will bring together experts from around the country to study and implement evidence-based interventions,” AAP said in a news release (opens in a new tab)announcing the plan.
AAP research could help fill a void created when Congress directed, in a 1996 appropriations bill, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (opens in a new tab) could not use use its federal funding to “advocate or promote gun control.” The measure effectively neutered public health research into gun violence, even after President Barack Obama issued an executive order (opens in a new tab) allowing such research to continue. While the CDC collects gun violence statistics, as it did last year (opens in a new tab) for firearm injuries involving children, the agency avoids further analysis of the data.
AAP says it is responding to calls from members for more action on gun violence.
“On a daily basis, our members see firsthand the pain caused by firearms, whether by homicide, suicide, or unintentional injuries,” said Dr. Colleen A Kraft, AAP’s president, in the news release. “However, just like any other risk to children, a focus on prevention and education by pediatricians in clinical settings, coupled with strong public policy which reduces access to firearms, can have a measurable and lasting positive impact.”
AAP’s Friends of Children and Tomorrow’s Children Endowment funds will provide $500,000 in initial funding for the initiative, and the academy has pledged further fundraising to support it.
(sshepard/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
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