Gun Violence Prevention

People holding up signs reading "Freedom from gun violence" and other anti-gun violence themes.

APA Services advocates for a public health approach to gun violence prevention, supporting evidence-based programs and policies that can reduce the occurrence and impact of firearm-related violence in the United States.

Our focus

Reduce stigma of mental illness.
APA strongly discourages the use of inaccurate and harmful rhetoric that blames America’s gun violence problem solely on mental illness. The overwhelming majority of people with mental illness are not violent. Based on the research, a history of violence is the single best predictor of who will commit future violence.
Gun violence prevention research
APA Services advocates for dedicated federal funding for gun violence prevention research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to promote a science-based public health approach to addressing this critical societal issue.
Safe firearms storage
APA supports efforts to fund lethal means safety options including safe firearms storage. Safe storage is crucial to preventing unintentional injuries and self-harm. Lethal means safety training is necessary to educate firearms owners and health care providers.
Extreme Risk Protection Order Laws
APA urges support of state efforts to implement Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPOs) laws. These laws can prevent suicides and can provide communities with an opportunity to petition the courts to intervene, and temporarily remove a firearm if the person is a possible risk to themselves or others without legal repercussions.
Community and school-based gun violence prevention initiatives
APA encourages public investment in evidence based programs and policies that work with schools and community stakeholders to reduce access to firearms by youth and individuals who are at risk of harming themselves or others. These initiatives provide crucial interventions to prevent tragedies and save lives.

Our efforts on this issue advance the following advocacy priorities:

Criminal justice
Violence and suicide prevention

Gun violence is a public health crisis in America, and guns are associated with far too many deaths in our country, including 50%-60% of suicides.
—Jennifer F. Kelly, PhD, APA President, 2021

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Related issues

Contact us

Ben Vonachen, MA
Senior Director, Congressional and Federal Relations
Email APA Advocacy Office

Recent advocacy on gun violence prevention

Trying on a new hat: Lessons from a summer at the policy table

September 23, 2026

This summer, Christina Carr traded neighborhood organizing for Capitol Hill, advocating on gun violence, juvenile justice, and federal funding as APA's 2026 Dalmas A. Taylor Policy Fellow

APA Services welcomes five new members to the Advocacy Coordinating Committee

November 4, 2025

APA Services welcomes five new members to its Advocacy Coordinating Committee, which guides the association’s advocacy priorities each year. Meet the new appointees shaping psychology’s voice in public policy

A healthcare provider reviewing brain CT scan images

Boosting FDA brain research funding to tackle diseases

November 14, 2024

APA Services joined the brain health community in urging Congress to provide $5 million in funding to FDA’s Neurology Drug Program as it completes the FY2025 appropriations process that will provide funding for research supported by the federal science agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation

Three members appointed to the Advocacy Coordinating Committee

October 2, 2024

The Advocacy Coordinating Committee (ACC) is charged with recommending the association’s advocacy priorities to the Board of Directors. Evelyn Burrell, Tamara Morris, Christopher Nguyen have been appointed to serve on the ACC.

More on gun violence

Letter to Congress: Gun violence is a public health crisis. Pass legislation to promote gun safety

The inaction of Congress in the wake of school shootings, mass shootings, domestic violence, suicides by firearm, and hate crimes is devastating and has long-lasting impacts. APA Services joins other educational and public health organizations to call on Congress to pass gun safety legislation.

APA again calls for gun reform in wake of Texas mass shooting

Schools must be safe havens, says APA president.

Preventing Gun Violence opens in new window

Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy

This APA report reviews research-based evidence on the causes of gun violence, including homicide, suicide or school shooting. How do mental health and mental illness affect prediction of gun violence? What can be done at the individual and community level to prevent gun violence?

APA Resolution on Firearm Violence Research and Prevention

APA resolves to encourage the scientific study of firearm violence and its prevention, and to encourage psychologists to respond to the problem of firearm violence as scientists, practitioners and educators.

Extreme risk protection orders: An evidence-based approach to preventing suicide opens in new window

A thaw in the freeze on federal funding for gun violence and injury prevention research

This April 2021 APA Monitor feature article notes that the CDC and NIH have awarded grants for firearms research for the first time in more than 20 years.

How to talk to your patients about firearm safety

Making guns less accessible is a key step in suicide prevention.

APA endorses legislation to prevent suicide among children and young adults

Association endorsement quoted in key lawmaker’s press release introducing the bill.