As guns rise to leading cause of death among US children, research funding to help prevent and protect victims lags
From 2008 to 2017, about $12 million in federal research awards were granted to study pediatric firearm mortality each year – about $600 per life lost. Motor vehicle crashes received about $26,000 of research funding per death, while funding to study pediatric cancer topped $195,000 per death.
By 2020, firearm deaths in the US had reached record levels and guns had surpassed car crashes to become the leading cause of death among children. More than 4,300 children and teens died from guns in 2020, a 27% jump from 2017.
Congress has earmarked about $25 million for firearm injury prevention research each year since 2020, split evenly between the CDC and the National Institutes of Health. Even if all of those dollars were spent on studies focused on pediatric deaths from firearm injury, it’d still be less than $6,000 per death.
A legislative provision enacted in 1996 specifically prohibits the use of federal funds to advocate or promote gun control, which had a chilling effect on firearm injury research overall. In 2018, Congress included a report on the provision in a spending bill, clarifying that it does not prohibit research on the root causes of gun violence. It wasn’t until 2020 that the budget included money specifically for this purpose.
From 2020 to 2022, there were about 90% more registered clinical trials and publications related to firearm injury prevention research than there were from 2017 to 2019. About half were funded and half were unfunded.
Federal funding helps destigmatize work on the topic. Many researchers who focus on firearm injury said they were consistently advised to pick a different field of study as recently as a few years ago.
Backing from the CDC and NIH also helps validate the strength of the research. Without federal funding, researchers have done their best to cobble together public data to start answering important questions about firearm injuries.
Reducing deaths from car crashes required a multi-faceted approach, and the same will be needed for firearm deaths. Building capacity in the field is critical to reversing the trends.
Good research also takes time. Some of the researchers funded in 2020 are just starting to release findings, including a new study showing that systems allowing schoolchildren to report anonymous tips help prevent school shootings and suicides.
Consistent investment is critical to consistent progress. If there isn’t continued funding, the research would stop midway. Increased funding would allow for even more competitive applications and greater interest in this important work.