Partnership Takes Aim to Reduce Firearm Deaths

As health professionals, we are well aware of the effects of gun violence in our communities. We all face the challenge of repairing the physical and emotional wounds to victims and their families devastated by gunfire.

Firearm violence is, without doubt, a serious public health problem in the United States and in Indiana. The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that every day in the United States, ninety people are killed with guns in suicides, homicides and accidents, and another 175 are injured. Indiana has a higher firearm mortality rate than the nation as a whole, and ranks second highest among all of the centrally located states, with Kentucky being the highest. More than half of Indiana's gun deaths are suicides, and more than ninety percent of those suicides occur in the white population.

To combat this trend, the IU School of Medicine and other community-minded organizations have formed the Indiana Partnership to Prevent Firearm Violence, which was established in 1999 with funding from the Joyce Foundation and the school's Department of Pediatrics. The partnership, which includes representatives from law enforcement, health care, education, policy, business and the faith community, is a broad-based approach to curb the epidemic of gun-related incidents.

A major focus for the partnership is data collection and analysis. Efforts are under way to collect information on firearm-related injuries from law enforcement, the coroners' offices and emergency departments throughout the state. Indiana is one of eleven states involved in collecting injury information which will be vital in designing interventions and evaluating their effectiveness.

The partnership is also involved in educational efforts focused on prevention of firearm injuries, and recently collaborated with the Center for Survey and Research in Bloomington to conduct a random, statewide opinion poll. Overall, the survey indicated that Hoosiers favor initiatives that focus on firearm-injury prevention.

While we recognize that there is much work ahead in reducing gun deaths and injuries, it is important to remember that gun deaths can be prevented and, through a concerted effort, we can make our communities safer places to live and raise our children.

Marilyn J. Bull, MD, is medical director of the Indiana Partnership to Prevent Firearm Violence and director of IUSM's Newborn Follow-Up Program/Developmental Pediatrics. For more information about the partnership, call (317) 278-7726.