The Impact of Firearm Policies and Research Priorities in the United States: Past, Present, and Future

Saturday, April 29, 2023

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET

Location: Convention Center: 206

CE: Live CME: 1.50

Selected By: EM
Co-sponsored By: APA, AAP, PHM

Chair(s)

Lois Lee, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)

Associate Professor
Emergency Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Disclosure(s):

Lois K. Lee, MD, MPH: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Session

Description: After the horrific back-to-back mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde,Texas, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022. This was the first major Congressional legislation related to firearms in the United States in nearly 30 years, since the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994 then sunset a decade later. Since then over a half-million U.S. residents have been killed and over 1.5 million injured by firearms. This is in part due to permissive policies facilitating increased accessibility of firearms, including military-style firearms. Federal policies have also greatly impacted the availability of firearm injury prevention research funding, stemming from the 1996 Dickey amendment, which essentially ended federal funding. Continued advocacy will be essential to increase research funding and to promote evidence-based firearm-related legislation to decrease firearm injuries and deaths to children. This hot topic symposium will educate pediatric clinicians about firearm injuries and related health disparities in U.S. children and youth as well as inform about the history, current landscape, and future needs of policies and research priorities.

1) 0-10 minutes: Introduction—Lois Lee
2) 10-25 minutes: Firearm injuries and deaths and related health disparities in U.S. children and youth—Sofia Chaudhary
3) 25-40 minutes: The history and evidence behind firearm policies in the U.S.—Eric Fleegler
4) 40-55 minutes: The current landscape of firearm policy and research priorities.--Katherine Hoops
5) 55-70 minutes: Emerging policy and advocacy for firearm injury prevention and research funding for children and youth.—Zachary Laris
6) 70-90 minutes: Q&A

Learning Objectives:

Understand the health disparities related to firearm epidemiology among children and youth in the U.S.
Describe the history of firearm policies in the United States and evidence behind their effectiveness in decreasing firearm injuries and deaths to children.
Discuss priority areas for research and advocacy related to pediatric firearm injury prevention.

Presentations:

8:00 AM – 8:10 AM ET

Introduction to Firearm Injuries, Policies and Research Priorities
Speaker: Lois K. Lee, MD, MPH (she/her/hers) – Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
8:10 AM – 8:25 AM ET

Firearm injuries and deaths and related health disparities in U.S. children and youth
Speaker: Sofia Chaudhary, MD (she/her/hers) – Emory University School of Medicine
8:25 AM – 8:40 AM ET

The history and evidence behind firearm policies in the U.S
Speaker: Eric Fleegler, Md mph (he/him/his) – Boston Children's Hospital
8:40 AM – 8:55 AM ET

The current landscape of firearm policy and research priorities
Speaker: Katherine Hoops, MD, MPH (she/her/hers) – Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
8:55 AM – 9:10 AM ET

Emerging policy and advocacy for firearm injury prevention and research funding for children and youth
Speaker: Zach Laris, MPH – American Academy of Pediatrics