National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research and MFH Announce Nearly $2 Million in Grants to Study Gun Violence in Missouri

ST. LOUIS, MO (August 4, 2020) – In partnership with Missouri Foundation for Health, the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research has announced $1.95 million in grants to study gun violence in Missouri. This funding will provide support for four research projects which will produce gun policy research on a range of topics, including officer-involved shootings, intimate partner gun violence, and the effectiveness of gun-free zones.

Funded projects include:

• An analysis of the role of firearm access, use, and ownership in intimate partner homicide and intimate partner homicide-suicide in two states, Missouri and Oregon.
• An exploration of whether gun-free zones in St. Louis, Missouri, reduce or increase gun violence.
• A study of the community-level impact of the killing of Mike Brown Jr. by Ferguson police on birth and pregnancy outcomes, particularly among Black mothers.
• A study that will expand and improve data on nonfatal gun crime incidents in Missouri.

These four projects were selected by the Collaborative’s nonpartisan Research Advisory Committee, which received 32 letters of interest proposing Missouri-relevant research, 11 of which were invited to submit full proposals. These Missouri-specific projects were funded as a part of the Collaborative’s second round of grantmaking, which included $7.5 million in total research funding, bringing the Collaborative’s total investment to date in gun violence research to over $17 million.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2017 Missouri had the fifth-highest rate of firearm deaths per capita in the United States.

“The state of Missouri has one of the nation’s highest rates of gun violence,” said Collaborative Director Andrew Morral. “The projects we are funding this year address important questions about, for instance, the wider community effects of some officer-involved shootings, and the incidence and risk factors associated with intimate partner homicides. These projects will examine the unique challenges that the state faces and identify policy solutions that will contribute to a safer Missouri in the future.”

“This research represents our commitment to taking a data-driven approach to this difficult issue,” said Jessi LaRose, senior initiative strategist at Missouri Foundation for Health. “We’re pleased to see a wide range of topics included in these four proposals, examining some of the many ways that gun violence leaves lasting scars in different communities and populations across our state. This research will not only help inform our work in the years ahead, it will also help strengthen the field for other groups working to address this epidemic.”

The Collaborative has set rules to ensure transparency and replicability in the research it funds, which will apply to all four Missouri-focused projects. All funded projects are required to post detailed analytic plans on OSF.org—a research transparency website—describing their hypotheses, measures, and procedures in advance of conducting the research. This ensures that departures from the original analytic plan will be detected. Projects are also required to share their data and statistical analysis code on the same website, so others can review their findings.

About the Collaborative:
The National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research funds rigorous scientific research with direct relevance to firearm-violence reduction in the United States. It was seeded with a $20 million gift from Arnold Ventures and has been supported by contributions from other organizations, including Wells Fargo, Missouri Foundation for Health, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. For more information, go to www.ncgvr.org.