Last year the AZPHA Board of Directors got together for a strategic planning retreat. One of the outcomes was to develop strategic priorities for the next 2 years – which included prioritizing work around firearm violence.
The public health impact of firearm violence was clearly not a priority for state agencies including ADHS during the Ducey Administration, so we took it upon ourselves to fill that gap – much like we did by providing clarity during the pandemic.
All good public health work starts with surveillance and an evidence review… so we commissioned a report from Julia Jackman, B.S., B.A., an MSc Candidate in Global Health Fulbright Study & Research Grantee at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology to conduct the Arizona-specific surveillance and the literature evidence review.
Allan N. Williams, MPH, PhD Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota School of Public Health Retired, Chronic Disease & Environmental Epidemiology, MN Dept. of Health served as her mentor throughout the months-long research project.
The report is finished, and we expect to publish our findings next week in a report entitled:
Gun Violence in Arizona Data to Inform Prevention Policies
The objectives of this report include:
- Identifying and reviewing the relevant literature on gun violence;
- Identifying and using available key data sources for gun violence;
- Defining the human and financial toll of gun violence in Arizona;
- Characterizing the different forms of gun violence including suicide, homicide, police shootings, and unintentional shootings;
- Characterizing the demographics of gun violence by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity;
- Comparing gun violence rates in Arizona to rates in other states and the U.S.;
- Identifying gun laws and policies that have been shown to reduce gun violence; and
- Showing where Arizona stands with respect to key evidence-based gun laws.
Stay Tuned!