PROGRESS REPORT
FISCAL YEAR
Rutgers School of Public Health Piscataway, New Jersey
INTRODUCTION
This progress report aims to summarize GVRC research, publications, active externally funded grants, research projects funded by the GVRC, community outreach projects and partnerships, and communications conducted by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center (GVRC) during FY24. The GVRC's mission is to conduct and fund cutting-edge scientific research on gun violence prevention and serve as a voice to make scientific information available to all communities impacted by gun violence.
Our plan is to focus on all aspects of gun violence, specifically firearm suicide and interpersonal gun violence. The GVRC is committed to combating racial disparities that leave marginalized communities shouldering a disproportionate burden of interpersonal gun violence, and we plan to partner with groups like our service and community members heavily impacted by gun violence.
MESSAGE FROM LEADERSHIP
MICHAEL ANESTIS, PHD GVRC
GVRC Executive Director
DANIEL SEMENZA, PHD
R.THURMA Dir of Interpersonal Violence Research
The New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center (GVRC) aims to address all forms of gun violence and to do so in a manner that has a tangible impact on the communities we serve. Our primary mission has two aims: (1) To conduct and fund cutting edge research on all forms of gun violence and (2) to disseminate the science of gun violence prevention broadly so as to empower communities to make data-driven policy and program demands that meet their local needs.
Given the historical underfunding of gun violence research, far too few scientists have devoted their careers to this field. The GVRC believes that a vital component to addressing that issue is the training of young scholars in gun violence prevention science, thereby setting the field on the path to feature increasing numbers of young scientists leveraging their skills to develop, test, and disseminate possibilities for preventing gun violence. To this end, the GVRC currently employs five doctoral students from a range of disciplines. We also feature three postdoctoral fellows. Each of these young scholars has been a key member of our team, contributing to our research and dissemination efforts and bringing invaluable energy to the center
The GVRC also emphasizes the importance of speaking to and working with individuals from all political perspectives and from a diverse range of communities. There are plenty of firearm-related issues that people disagree on vociferously, but there are also many on which we agree. We feel it is essential to ensure that we are not conducting our work in an echo chamber, missing or even alienating the communities we most need to reach. To that end, we have developed partnerships and collaborations with an enormous range of individuals with the capability to influence various aspects of gun violence prevention, and we will strive to further increase that range
This past year, the GVRC continued to welcome in new trainees, published a number of impactful peer reviewed manuscripts, secured externally funded grants, and regularly engaged with the media. We hosted our third annual GVRC Research Day, an online event highlighting all work funded this year by the GVRC as well as providing a platform for community voices to speak on the issue of gun violence in New Jersey. We also hosted the second annual GVRC Summit, an in person event bringing together scientists, policy makers, healthcare providers, and community members to make actionable steps towards addressing specific aspects of gun violence in New Jersey This year, the Summit was headlined by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin
RESEARCH PUB
GVRC research papers that were published in peer reviewed publications.
GVRC FUNDED RESEA
GVRC funded gun violence prevention research grants covering all forms of gun violence.
EXTERNALLY FUND
Grants from different external organizations awarded to the GVRC
GVRC events are designed to be inclusive, informative, and interactive, offering a space for community members, researchers, and local and state leaders to foster foster a dialogue on gun violence prevention
IN THE N
GVRC media interaction; interviews, news articles, podcasts, and
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MARCH 2024
What's missing? Violently injured Black Men's Narratives around Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
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MARCH 2024
Firearm Violence Exposure and Functional Disability among Black Men and Women in the United States
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JUNE 2024
Female Military Service Members and Veterans: Understanding Treatment Seeking Behavior and Previous Suicide Risk Among Suicide Decedents
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JULY 2023
NOVEMBER 2023
DECEMBER 2023
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EMPOWERING COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS TO BECOME CO-PRODUCERS OF PUBLIC SAFETY: DEVELOPING A GUN VIOLENCE CRIME PREVENTION EFFORT IN THE CITY OF NEWARK
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CO-INVESTIGATOR: MICHAEL ANESTIS, PHD
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PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: EMMY BETZ, MD, MPH
CO-INVESTIGATOR: MICHAEL ANESTIS, PHD
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PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: EMMY BETZ, MD, MPH
CO-INVESTIGATOR: MICHAEL ANESTIS, PHD
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CO-INVESTIGATOR: RICHARD STANFIELD, PHD
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PROJECT SAFE GUARD
OCTOBER 18, 2023
ILLICIT BLACK FIREARM OWNERSHIP BRIEFING
JANUARY 23, 2024
RUTGERS GIVING DAY
MARCH 21, 2024
GVRC STUDENT DAY
APRIL 19, 2024
This year's Student Day focused on highlighting research conducted by the GVRC doctoral students. The event was an in-person event that brought together members of the Rutgers community to learn from the next generation of scholars dedicated to gun violence research. Presenters:
Jordan Costa
Allison Bond
Devon Ziminski
Shelby Bandel
Taylor Rodriguez
Brielle Savage
RUTGERS DAY
GVRC RESEARCH DAY
Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Tanya L. Sharpe: Community Mental Health Director, BulletPoints Project Associate Clinical Professor, emphasized the need for community-centric approaches to addressing gun violence, focusing on the intersection of mental health and community resilience.
Dr. Amy Barnhorst: Vice of Community Mental Health Director, BulletPoints Project Associate Clinical Professor, shared her expertise on mental health's role in gun violence prevention and the critical importance of integrating mental health strategies into community-based interventions.
Access to Content: For those who missed the live event, the full virtual conference is available for viewing on our YouTube page: NJ Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers. The conference continues to be a vital forum for sharing knowledge, fostering collaboration, and driving the conversation on gun violence prevention forward.
GVRC SUMMIT
IN THE NEWS
GVRC in the News, Media, and Conferences to raise awareness about its critical research on the GVRC gun violence research and prevention
JULY
Researchers surveyed just over 3,000 people, including 1,000 gun owners, about their opinions on laws related to safe gun storage, extreme risk protection orders, licensing requirements, concealed carry permits and other policies. About one quarter were Republicans, 36% were Democrats and 38% were independent voters.
Surveys like this one are important because they capture an accurate picture of where people stand and in turn inform policymakers, said Daniel Semenza, assistant professor and director of interpersonal violence research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University Camden.
JULY
“We need to make a distinction, so when people talk about gun violence its constituent parts and when we talk about suicide that represents , on a given year, two-thirds of the gun deaths in the country,” said Daniel Semenza, assistant professor and director of interpersonal violence research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University Camden. “Urban gun violence is very different, people also call it Community gun violence that typically happen on often a day-to-day basis in a lot in cities particularly disadvantage neighborhoods.”
JULY
“It might be that some folks own firearms illicitly and they don’t feel comfortable really telling anybody that they own firearms,” said Allison Bond, a doctoral student at Rutgers University and the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, who led the study. “It may also be that there’s a distrust between the researchers that are conducting research and the firearm-owning community really speaking to the need for cross-discipline efforts to reduce firearm injury and death.”
JULY
In the published study, researchers found that there may be a good number of people who are falsely denying that they own a gun.
And, according to lead author Allison Bond, this group doesn't only include what many people may view as the typical American firearm owner: white males. Based on respondents' answers to survey questions, researchers have surmised that other groups — women, people of color, and those living in urban communities — are not being truthful about owning a firearm.
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AUGUST
“This study takes a close look at the back-and-forth relationship between concealed carry licensing and homicides over a relatively long period of time,” said Daniel Semenza, director of interpersonal research of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and co-author of the study. “We found no evidence that homicides are reduced where there are more concealed carry licenses,” said Semenza. “On the contrary, we found that more concealed carry permits issued in a given county are linked to a greater number of homicides in that county the following year.”
AUGUST
In a paper published in JAMA Psychiatry, Dr. Anestis and his colleagues found that those who purchased a firearm for the first time during the surge were at a higher risk of having experienced suicidal thoughts.
“If firearms are more likely to be in homes where suicidal thoughts recur, then as the years go by you’re more likely to have that sort of confluence of wanting to die and having ready access to — by far — the most lethal method for suicide,” Dr. Anestis said.
AUGUST
“The data shows that if there is a firearm in the home the risk for suicide for everyone in the home, not just the firearm owner, goes up three to five times, so the presences of a firearm increases the risk dramatically,” said Mike Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. “ I suggest two things: store your firearm securely and locked up in a separate location from ammunition ... and if someone at home is going through a difficult time, find a place to secure your firearm safely and legally outside your home whether that’s a gun safe pr trigger lock or cable lock.”
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SEPTEMBER
Suicide prevention experts know people in crisis who don't have easy access to a gun will not likely find another way to kill themselves. Suicide prevention expert Mike Anestis, Executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and a professor at Rutgers University, said no other methods are as "close to as lethal as firearms for a suicide death." Around 90 to 95% of suicide attempts with a firearm will result in death while less than 5% of all other attempts will result in death, he said.
In a country that already has an estimated 400 million guns in circulation the solution just can't be about banning firearms or stopping people from buying them, said Anestis.
OCTOBER
"Many of America's most disadvantaged neighborhoods are stuck in a vicious cycle of violence and collateral damage that is almost impossible to escape," said lead author Daniel Semenza, director of interpersonal research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and assistant professor in the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health and in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Camden.
OCTOBER
Boen co-authored a new study, led by Daniel Semenza and published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, that further explores the connection between health, particularly functional disability, and concentrated disadvantage—which combines many factors including: the percentage of families living below the poverty line; the percentage of the population that is unemployed; and the percentage of female-headed households.
“These three measures are often aligned with one another, and together they tend to predict negative community outcomes related to health, crime, and social disinvestment,” Semenza said.
OCTOBER
“If law enforcement officers experiencing suicidal thoughts are more likely to have quick access to an unsecured firearm, there is a greater risk that, in their worst moment, they will reach for and use by far the most lethal method for suicide,” said senior study author Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.
“We do not always know when an officer is suffering with suicidal thoughts, so we need to work with that community to foster a general tendency to store firearms securely by default so that, if they one day find themselves thinking about suicide, it will be more difficult for them to make a deadly decision in response to those thoughts,” Anestis concluded.
NOVEMBER
Training Bartenders, Barbers and Divorce
Attorneys as Counselors Could Reduce Gun Suicides
People who own firearms don't want to accidentally get hurt or hurt others, he says, but they view the risk that firearms pose to their owners as one worth taking. Still, Anestis contends that common ground for widespread secure storage measures is possible. Research that Anestis and his colleagues published in the February 2021 issue of the American Journal of Public Health showed that “lethal means counseling” for gun owners resulted in wider adoption of safe storage methods.
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NOVEMBER
“We all accept a certain level of risk in our lives, but a lot of folks are using sort of faulty information to estimate how much risk is involved in keeping my firearm loaded on my bedside table,” said Mike Anestis, lead author of the study and the executive director at New Jersey’s Gun Violence Research Center.
“We need to do a better job of equipping trusted voices with the ideas that, hey, safe storage, secure storage, can help prevent a lot of other tragedies,” Anestis added in his interview with NJ Spotlight News.
NOVEMBER
White men 75 and older had the highest rate at about 44 per 100,000. Overall, men were about four times as likely as women to take their own lives, though the suicide rate for women ages 25 to 34 in particular saw a notable spike, per CNN. The New York Times notes that the rate of suicides involving guns also reached an all-time high, accounting for roughly 27,000 of 50,000 deaths. "When there are more firearms, there are more firearm suicides," says Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.
NOVEMBER
Dr. Anestis of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center said he was “sadly not surprised,” since the demographic groups driving the surge in firearm sales did not match the stereotype of “older, white, male gun owners.” Research showed that about half of first-time buyers during the pandemic were female, and an increasing proportion were Black and Hispanic.
NOVEMBER
The gender imbalance about death by suicide is globally universal, says Mike Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University in Piscataway.
“Men tend to choose more violent means, and that typically means firearms,” he says. “When you choose a more violent method for suicide, you’re more likely to die.”
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NOVEMBER
Semenza said reducing shootings in disadvantaged communities is integral to addressing broader disparities in health throughout the nation. Estimates from previous research indicate that firearm violence costs Americans more than $550 billion annually, including losses related to quality of life.
“We have accepted too much violence in too many communities for far too long,” said Semenza. “We are seeing the impact it has on many aspects of well-being. The longer we choose to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the problem, the more damage will be done to Americans all over the nation.”
The One Thing Experts Agree On When It Comes To Guns And Kids
DECEMBER
“If firearm owners are unaware of the suicide prevention value of secure firearm storage practices, it makes sense that they opt to have at least one firearm in their home stored loaded and unlocked,” Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers and lead author of the study said in a release. “
The problem is, staging a firearm so it is so quickly accessible dramatically increases the risk for injury and death, so these perceptions are causing firearm owners to put themselves and their families in danger.”
DECEMBER
The Times consulted with Dr. Dan Semenza, who generously set aside time for multiple discussions throughout the process.
A list of research that informed the reporting and analysis follows below.
Firearm Dealers and Local Gun Violence: A Street Network Analysis of Shootings and Concentrated Disadvantage in Atlanta. Daniel C. Semenza, Elizabeth Griffiths, Jie Xu and Richard Stansfield
Licensed Firearm Dealers, Legal Compliance, and Local Homicide: A Case Study. Richard Stansfield, Daniel Semenza, Jie Xu, Elizabeth Griffiths
DECEMBER
Now, researchers at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University collected a representative sample from five diverse states in mid-2022 and then assessed if firearm owners who report storing their firearms loaded and unlocked perceive less utility in specific storage practices when it comes to preventing firearm theft, unintentional shootings, and suicide
“The most common reason for owning a firearm is protection at home, so many firearm owners view their firearms as tools to have on the ready in case of home invasion,” says Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers and lead author of the study, in a media release
DECEMBER
The BBC reported that Israeli gun ownership consisted of just “about 2% of the population.” In contrast, the findings of a study by Rutgers University’s New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center estimated that upwards of six in ten Americans own guns.
JANUARY
A recent study by Rutgers University examined whether Americans see a direct correlation between safely securing their firearms and the prevention of suicides and accidental shootings. After analyzing the storage practices of over 900 residents from five states, researchers found a clear trend: many of the firearms owners didn’t necessarily see safe storage as a means to prevent suicide or accidental shootings.
“There’s an imbalance in the messaging: most Americans know little about the risks that come with unsecured firearms and suicide,” said Michael D. Anestis, lead researcher on the study and a clinical psychologist at Rutgers University.
White House Announces Initiatives to Promote
JANUARY
New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, about what needs to happen to get more Americans to safely secure their firearms. According to a study published in 2023, more than half of gun owners keep at least one firearm unlocked and hidden. But in the majority of American homes, an unsecured firearm is more likely to result in an accidental death or suicide than be used in defense against a home invasion.
Anestis explained that many Americans don’t practice safe storage because of decades of messaging by the gun industry emphasizing external threats and the little information available about the risks of unsecured firearms. “Researchers can’t be the singular voice speaking on risks,” he told me. “This has to be a message that comes from multiple channels.”
FEBRUARY
“Starting in 2018, the rate of Black suicide has continually gone up — this was happening at the same time there was this sharp increase in gun homicide — and this was the first step in seeing if there is a relationship between interpersonal violence and self-directed violence,” said Semenza, who conducted the study with his fellow researchers at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University.
Black people in America experience interpersonal firearm violence at disproportionate rates. While research has shown that racism, socioeconomics, and gentrification all contribute to gun violence rates in communities nationwide, evidence also shows that Black Americans are the most susceptible to these factors.
Hope for Suicide Prevention
FEBRUARY
Other countries, like Israel, have brought down suicide rates dramatically by restricting access to guns. But in the U.S., about 400 million guns are circulating in private hands, said Michael Anestis, who leads the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. “We don’t know where they are, and even if we did, we would have no way of getting them,” he said.
FEBRUARY
“Our study found that exposure to gun violence, whether experienced directly or indirectly, is associated with increased suicidal thoughts and behaviors among Black adults,” said lead author Daniel Semenza, director of interpersonal violence research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, in a statement about the research. The center is based at Rutgers Health.
“This suggests a possible connection between interpersonal violence and self-directed violence,” Semenza added.
An Emerging Group of Researchers Is Changing Our Understanding of Gun Violence
MARCH
“I understand that Black men, especially those who are suffering from a firearm-related disability, are hyperinvisible in research,” Baker said. Her work on the health of Black men — bringing them from margin to center — is a direct result of the visibility of the established cohort of researchers in the collective, she said. That dynamic helped her “understand my positionality and intersectionality as a Black woman researcher, researching Black communities.”
APRIL
“Although opinions may be divided about the risks involved in having firearms in the home, the data is clear on this issue,” said Michael Anestis, an associate professor in urban-global public health at the Rutgers School of Public Health and executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. “Having a firearm in the home dramatically increases the risk of suicide for all members of the household, while also increasing risk for unintentional shootings and fatal domestic violence. If firearm owners are not aware of this, they may not be taking the necessary precautions to help avoid those outcomes, like storing the firearm securely in the home and storing it legally away from home during times of stress. If a firearm is kept at home to keep people safe, firearm owners should make sure they are actually doing what is necessary to accomplish that goal.”
Who the Military See as Credible to Discuss Secure Firearm Storage
MARCH
The researchers, whose study appears in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviors, examined data from 719 U.S. service members.
“There is no single voice that will appeal to all firearmowning service members, but certain groups are widely seen as credible overall and our results provide a sense of how to best reach different groups of service members to effectively encourage them to store their firearms more securely,” said Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and senior author of the study.
Police suicides in Suffolk County highlight mental health risks for law enforcement
MARCH
Michael Anestis, a psychologist who is executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University, said “warrior culture” is a factor in the higher suicide rate among officers: “You solve your own problems. You don't talk about your feelings. You don't reveal what might be perceived as weakness.”
Cops are likewise drawn to potentially traumatic situations, he said, and “less fearful of things like danger and injury and the things that you have to be exposed to
APRIL
“Having a firearm in the home dramatically increases the risk of suicide for all members of the household, while also increasing risk for unintentional shootings and fatal domestic violence," said Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. "If firearm owners are not aware of this, they may not be taking the necessary precautions to help avoid those outcomes, like storing the firearm securely in the home and storing it legally away from home during times of stress."
MAY
This kind of survey-based study cannot prove causation, but it suggests that exposure to gun violence might shape functional disability and everyday well-being through mental trauma, even when it doesn't disable people directly via physical injury," Semenza said.
GVRC
EXTERNAL CONFERENCES
Researchers from the GVRC attended and delivered several presentations that showcased the center's research Topics included the impact of firearm secure storage, firearm suicide, community safety, the role of mental health in gun violence prevention, and innovative community-based interventions
SEPTEMBER
Mike Anestis, PhD, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and CU Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative collaborator, presented research on leveraging messaging to promote secure firearm storage. In his research, he found that service members who hadn’t disclosed their suicidal thoughts to anyone were more likely to store their firearms unsecured.
In another research study, Anestis found that most participants preferred to receive messaging on firearm safety and suicide prevention from law enforcement, military personnel, military veterans, and family members. Physician, celebrities, and casual acquaintances were considered less credible sources.
SEPTEMBER
The summit provided an excellent opportunity for the GVRC to connect with other organizations and experts in the field of veteran mental health and suicide prevention. These connections are expected to lead to collaborative projects aimed at reducing suicide rates among veterans.
SEPTEMBER
Donald M. Payne, Jr. who hosted a roundtable regarding efforts to combat gun violence in Newark, NJ. Dr. Mike Anestis, executive director, of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center represented the Center.
OCTOBER
The GVRC contributed valuable insights to the broader efforts to prevent gun violence across the United States. Their presence at the conference also helped to build connections that will support ongoing and future research initiatives.
DECEMBER
Dr. Anestis is a member of the Board of Professional Affairs. Members are elected to represent the interests characteristic of the profession of psychology.
RisksandConsequencesof CommunityGunViolenceExposure
Dr. Daniel Semeneza shared his important work on the impacts of gun violence exposure, particularly as it relates to consequences for health.
JANUARAY
The SSJR is pleased to host Dr. Daniel Semenza, Director of Interpersonal Violence Research at New Jersey’s Gun Violence Research Center (GVRC).
The GVRC is among the first state funded research centers in the United States that conducts interdisciplinary research on the causes, consequences, and solutions to gun-related violence, while respecting the rights of legal, safe gun ownership, and use.
JANUARY
The GVRC contributed valuable insights to the broader efforts to prevent gun violence across the United States. Their presence at the conference also helped to build connections that will support ongoing and future research initiatives.
APRIL
PODCASTS
The GVRC’s work was featured on several influential podcasts, where researchers from the center discussed topics ranging from firearm policy and community-based interventions to the impact of gun violence on mental health and public safety.
Protector,Provider,Self-reliant,Thoseare justaFewCoreValuesofManhoodidentified bytheParticipantsinaStudyofBlackmen whowereSeriouslyInjuredthrough GunViolence
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FEBRUARY
Michael Hill: What about the masculinity? What did you find about that?
Dr. Nazsa Baker: I found that manhood and masculinities is very, very complex when we're talking about Black men. I asked them, "Wo what does it mean to be a man?" The 10 participants said, "For me being a man is being able to protect, being able to provide," and by provider, they're specifically talking about financially providing and also being able to just uphold white patriarchal standards of masculinity, being self-aware, being able to do things on your own. For them, being able to embody these typical, what we define as masculine traits was important because it's what society has constructed for men.
MAY
“Protect and Provide: Perceptions of Manhood and Masculinities Among Disabled Violently Injured Black Men in a Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program." Dr. Baker, a distinguished scholar at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and an Assistant Professor at Gwynedd Mercy University, brings a wealth of knowledge from her extensive work on urban health disparities, violence and injury prevention, and, notably, the support needs of Black men navigating the aftermath of firearm violence. Through her lens, we'll explore the transformative journeys of Black men as they redefine manhood amidst the challenges of disability and societal expectations
SOCIAL MEDIA & WEBSITE ANALYTICS
(GVRC) closely monitors its social media and website analytics to assess the effectiveness of its outreach efforts, enhance engagement, and optimize content strategies
SOCIAL MEDIA
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