2024 Accomplishments

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This year, the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions mobilized its team to conduct research and advocate for evidence-informed gun violence solutions. Our growing team collaborated with researchers, legislators, community members, law enforcement, health care providers, students, and fellow advocates to impact all phases of the policy change process and achieved significant victories.

2024 Accomplishments

#1

We set a bold goal to reduce gun violence 30% by 2030. To reach this goal, we are focused on five evidence-based policies and programs with the potential to save thousands of lives.

 

  1. Firearm removal laws

  2. Firearm purchaser licensing

  3. Safe and secure firearm storage

  4. Public carry of firearms

  5. Community violence interventions

 

#2

We supported the passage of over 15 lifesaving gun policies in states across the country and prioritized research and advocacy to advance firearm purchaser licensing.

 

• We conducted groundbreaking research on the relationship between handgun purchaser licensing and gun injury hospitalizations. The first-of-its-kind study found that robust licensing laws can reduce firearm injuries.

• After years of dedicated work, we helped pass a firearm purchaser licensing bill in Delaware. Eleven states and the District of Columbia now have this highly effective gun violence reduction policy.

 

#3

We published more than 25 groundbreaking studies, from evaluating gun law effectiveness to analyzing the pulse of public opinion on gun policies.  

 

 

#4 

We expanded implementation of Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO) that temporarily remove firearms from those who pose a risk of harm to themselves or others.

 

• We launched ERPO.org, a new platform that provides resources from our National ERPO Resource Center, established in partnership with the Department of Justice to expand ERPO implementation in the states that have the policy, which Vice President Kamala Harris announced at a ceremony at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

• We released an Extreme Risk Protection Order Model Policy Guide, a resource containing 58 policy recommendations to assist states in enacting the most effective and comprehensive ERPO laws.

• We trained over 700 ERPO implementers around the country including law enforcement, judges, clinicians, attorneys, and advocates.

• The Department of Justice increased its support of the ERPO Resource Center, recognizing its impact in expanding the use of ERPOs to save lives.

 

#5 

We released Gun Violence in the U.S. 2022: Examining the Burden Among Children and Teens, our annual report analyzing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gun death data. In 2022, firearm deaths in the U.S. were the second highest ever recorded.

 

#6 

We responded to Supreme Court rulings: a challenging landscape.
 

 

• The Center’s legal team is helping jurisdictions respond to legal challenges, which protect existing gun violence prevention laws.

• Our team’s amicus brief in U.S. v. Rahimi informed the Supreme Court’s June 2024 decision to uphold the ban on domestic abusers possessing firearms.

• We launched Sufficiently Analogous, a podcast to explain the seismic shift in Second Amendment law that resulted from the Bruen decision and to galvanize the gun violence prevention movement’s response.

 

#7

Our Clinical Programs and Practice team is conducting a CDC and NIH funded project, which helps clinicians provide patient-centered safe gun storage counseling in pediatric and adult trauma centers across the country. 

 

 

The Center’s Broadened Impact and Reach

 

Prominent national media outlets featured the Center’s work, earning 3,080 media mentions this year, averaging ten per day. Coverage includes ten op-eds and interviews in The New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN.

 

We launched a redesigned state-of-the-art website that streamlines resources, shares vital research, and amplifies solutions. Since launching in February, our website has seen a 215% increase in visitors.

 

Center staff shared our gun violence prevention expertise and solutions at approximately 300 public education events, including webinars, symposiums, colloquiums, and conferences.

 

We grew by 24%, adding ten new team members.