Last year, state lawmakers voted to create and fund a gun violence research center at UC Davis.
Now it's open, and people on both sides of the gun debate are wondering if science can reduce firearm deaths in America.
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When you look at the data, firearm deaths and car crashes take roughly the same number of lives each year.
The difference is, we know who’s most likely to die on the road, and why. For gun violence? Not so much.
“There’s no part of this problem that we understand well enough.”
That’s Dr. Garen Wintemute. He’s a UC Davis professor who's leading the new center. It's the only state-funded gun research initiative in the U.S., and the first major project since the federal government slashed funding for the topic in the late 90s.
Wintemute says they’ll start with surveys in emergency rooms. Doctors will try to determine when owning a gun, or just being exposed to one, was a factor in an injury.
“Every major trauma center sees lots and lots of people who’ve been shot. Those people are at high risk as a group of being shot again, and either injured again or killed.”
There will be added focus on firearm suicide, which is about twice as likely as firearm homicide nationally.
The researchers will also look at the effect of California policies that require background checks on firearm transfers.
That’s worrying to Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California.
Considering Dr. Wintemute’s 30-year history of advocating for gun control, Paredes feels the center might have an agenda
Still, he says he supports research as long as it’s fair and accurate.
“Whatever questions are asked, there should be no preconceived result that is trying to be justified by the research"
The center was created with $5 million in state funding. Scientists must report their findings by the end of the year, and every five years after that.