Comprehensive Injury Center Announces New Global Firearm Collaborative
The Comprehensive Injury Center (CIC) has formed a new Global Firearm Collaborative focused on reducing firearm-related harms through collaborative and comprehensive research, policy, and practice. The Collaborative’s mission is to advance state of the art research, investigate and develop evidence-based policies, and become a credible global partner for community practice---all with the aim of reducing firearm-related harm and helping to make our communities safe for everyone.
Currently, the three main activities of the Collaborative are wound ballistics testing, epidemiologic studies, and the adaptation of the Peace and Values Education curriculum initially developed by the Kigali Genocide Memorial (KGM) and Aegis Trust. The structure of the Collaborative is set up to allow for other activities/partnerships to emerge and join the Collaborative’s work.
Wound Ballistics Testing
Preliminary pilot work from MCW’s Biomedical Engineering Department and the Wisconsin Crime Lab of Milwaukee has demonstrated the ability to apply state-of-the-art video technology to wound ballistics testing, providing a quantitative and visual assessment of how a bullet behaves in gelatin. This quantified energy data of the “damage” caused by firearms and the bullets they carry is critical to our understanding of the magnitude of their potential for injury. It provides an unbiased, scientific perspective on the implications for the clinical care of bullet-injured patients and informs policy discussions for classifying and regulating bullets and firearms.
Epidemiologic Studies
Members of the Collaborative are also actively engaged in advancing studies that further the understanding of gun violence in the Americas and the Caribbean. Their recent analysis of child/adolescent deaths in four countries was accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Youth Firearm Mortality in the Americas from 2015 to 2022. The goal is to continue to utilize data to inform the burden of firearm related injury globally, which in turn can help to identify prevention and intervention strategies to reduce injury.
Peace and Values Education in Violence Prevention
Through partnerships created by the Office of Global Health, the Collaborative has partnered with the Kigali Genocide Memorial (KGM) and Aegis Trust to adapt their Peace and Values Education curriculum for violence prevention efforts in the United States. The Peace and Values Education program is grounded in forgiveness as a path forward to find peace, through developing skills in critical thinking, empathy, and personal responsibility.
Contact Information
For more information about the Wound Ballistics Testing and Epidemiologic Studies work, contact Dr. Stephen Hargarten at hargart@mcw.edu.
For more information about the Peace and Values Education work, contact Terri deRoon-Cassini at tcassini@mcw.edu, Reggie Moore at rmoore@mcw.edu, Lynn Lewis at vlewis@mcw.edu, or Tristan Gross at tgross@mcw.edu.