Toward a Safer World by 2040: The JAMA Summit Report on Reducing Firearm Violence and Harms

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

11-5-2025

ISSN

1538-3598

Publisher

JAMA Network

Language

en-US

Abstract

Importance Since the start of the 21st century, more than 800 000 firearm deaths and more than 2 million firearm injuries have occurred in the US. All categories of firearm violence—homicide, suicide, unintentional—result in reverberating harms to individuals, families, communities, and society. The collective responsibility of society is to safeguard the health and safety of its members, including from firearm harms. The JAMA Summit on Firearm Violence convened 60 thought leaders from a wide array of disciplines to chart an innovations roadmap that will lead to substantial reductions in firearm harms by 2040.

Observations The vision for 2040 is a country where firearm violence is substantially reduced and where all people and communities report feeling safe from firearm harms. The vision centers on practical solutions with an understanding of the country’s constitutional protections for firearm ownership. Achieving the 2040 vision will require expansion of proven evidence-based strategies and the development of new, innovative approaches rooted in equity, accountability, and collective responsibility. Discussions centered on projecting a safer world, community violence interventions, technologic innovations, federal and state-level oversight of firearms, ethical considerations, and primordial prevention of firearm violence. The Summit charted a roadmap of 5 essential actions in the next 5 years to achieve this vision: (1) focus on communities and change fundamental structures that lead to firearm harms, (2) harness technological strengths responsibly, (3) change the narrative around firearm harms, (4) take a whole-government and whole-society approach, and (5) spark a research revolution on preventing firearm harms.

Conclusions and Relevance A safer world will require investing in the discovery, implementation, and scaling of solutions that reduce firearm harms and center on the people and communities most affected by firearm violence.

JAMA Summits are part of the mission of JAMA and the JAMA Network to advance some of the most pressing issues in science, medicine, and public health. On March 25-26, 2025, a JAMA Summit on Firearm Violence convened a broad group of 60 thought leaders from medicine, nursing, public health, criminology, sociology, social work, history, engineering, law, industry, political science, community violence interventionists, and public policy. Invitations were extended based on known expertise and referrals to the Summit planners. While the participants did not include firearm rights advocates, it did include members of industry and firearm owners. The goal was to chart an innovations roadmap that will lead to substantial reductions in firearm violence, injuries, and harm in the US by 2040. Sessions included Projecting a Safer World for 2040, Community Violence Interventions, Innovations in Technology to Enhance Safety, Innovations in Federal and State-Level Oversight of Firearms and Ammunition, Importance of Ethical Consideration When Working With all Communities, and Innovations in Primordial Prevention of Firearm Violence. This article presents a summary of these discussions and a vision for achieving a safer future.

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