Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, the study highlights need for tailored public health interventions to address different causes of gun deaths

A new study from researchers at Northwell Health’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Northwell’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention and The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research reveals that stronger gun laws are significantly correlated with reduced firearm suicides, but socioeconomic factors play a more substantial role in firearm homicides. Published today in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, the research underscores the need for targeted public health interventions that address the root causes of gun violence, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

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Northwell Health’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center lit in orange to raise awareness for gun violence prevention. (Credit: Northwell Health)

“This research is one-of-a-kind and demonstrates that the relationship between gun safety laws and gun deaths is far more nuanced than previously thought,” said Chethan Sathya, MD, MSc, director of Northwell’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention, trauma director of the Division of Pediatric Surgery, Cohen Children’s Medical Center and principal investigator of the research. “Suicide and homicide are distinct issues as they relate to firearm laws, requiring distinct solutions. Our research reveals that current gun safety policies may be effective at addressing one but not the other, highlighting the critical need for more tailored approaches based on this fundamental difference.”

The study analyzed data from the Giffords Law Center, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the U.S. Census to examine the relationship between state gun law strength and firearm deaths (both suicides and homicides) from 2017-2021. The researchers found:

• Overall, states with stronger gun laws had significantly lower firearm death rates during the study period.
• Laws regulating firearm sales and transfers, public carry, gun owner accountability and certain weapon classes were most strongly correlated with decreases in firearm suicide.
• While laws relating to consumer and child safety and investigating gun crimes did exhibit a correlation with lower homicide rates, they showed a stronger link to reductions in suicide rates.
• Some gun laws correlated with decreased firearm homicides; however, socioeconomic factors like poverty, unemployment and access to health insurance – particularly among Black Americans – had a stronger influence. The data suggests that policies designed to address social determinants of health may play an important role in reducing firearm homicide.

“Our research clearly demonstrates the life-saving potential of strong public health policies such as laws regulating firearm sales and transfers, and public carry, coupled with holding gun owners accountable, are associated with lower suicide rates and less violence,” said Emma Cornell, MPH, senior clinical research program manager at Northwell’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention and lead author on the paper. “To meaningfully address this public health crisis of firearm violence, we must address both access to firearms and the fundamental needs of our communities.”

The researchers acknowledge limitations to the study, including its correlational nature (not causative), the use of county-level socioeconomic data and the exclusion of non-fatal firearm injuries. There is a need for future longitudinal studies to examine the impact of gun laws at the individual level, evaluate policy implementation and better understand the role of community violence intervention programs.

“Gun violence is a crisis, and Dr. Sathya’s research shows just how deeply it impacts our most vulnerable,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health. “This isn’t just about finding new solutions; it’s about addressing the systemic inequities that fuel this violence.”

Since 2019, Northwell Health, the largest health system in the Northeast, has been a leader in addressing gun violence as a public health crisis. Through its Center for Gun Violence Prevention, Northwell has screened over 50,000 patients for firearm access and gun violence risk, including children presenting in the emergency department. The health system continues to invest in gun violence research, including screening emergency room patients for risk of gun violence and safe firearm storage practices.

Every year, Northwell hosts its Gun Violence Prevention Forum, bringing together leaders, advocates and community members for an open dialogue on the state of the gun violence epidemic while offering strategies to implement change. The center also spearheaded the Gun Violence Prevention Learning Collaborative for Hospitals, in which over 600 hospitals from 38 states have come together to advance best practices. Through the Northwell-initiated National Health Care CEO Council on Gun Violence Prevention & Safety, 54 leading health care CEOs have pledged to leverage their collective influence and resources to curb the historic spike in gun-related deaths and injuries.

Dr. Sathya and his team regularly publish impactful research on national and local gun violence data, as well as the effects of interventional methods. In October 2024, his team published a paper in Injury Prevention that provided a blueprint for implementing effective universal screening for firearm injury and mortality prevention strategies in emergency care settings.

In recent months, the Rx Foundation granted $100,000 to advance the Center for Gun Violence Prevention’s essential work, while an additional $100,000 from the Joyce Foundation is supporting the development of a national toolkit to guide health systems throughout the country in best practices for implementing successful gun violence prevention initiatives.

About Northwell Health

Northwell is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving residents of New York and Connecticut with 28 hospitals, more than 1,000 outpatient facilities, 22,000 nurses and over 20,000 physicians. Northwell cares for more than three million people annually in the New York metro area, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Northwell is New York State’s largest private employer with over 104,000 employees – including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices – who are working to change health care for the better. Northwell is making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Northwell is training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About the Feinstein Institutes:

The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research is the home of the research institutes of Northwell Health, the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State. Encompassing 50+ research labs, 3,000 clinical research studies and 5,000 researchers and staff, the Feinstein Institutes raises the standard of medical innovation through its six institutes of behavioral science, bioelectronic medicine, cancer, health system science, molecular medicine, and translational research. We are the global scientific leader in bioelectronic medicine – an innovative field of science that has the potential to revolutionize medicine. The Feinstein Institutes publishes two open-access, international peer-reviewed journals Molecular Medicine and Bioelectronic Medicine. Through the Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine, we offer an accelerated PhD program. For more information about how we produce knowledge to cure disease, visit http://feinstein.northwell.edu and follow us on LinkedIn.

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