Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions is a research institution that promotes increased gun control. It is housed in Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and was formed from the merging of a previous Johns Hopkins gun-control research institute and the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV).

In addition to producing research reports on gun violence and advocating for strict gun control measures, the Center is also informed by the critical race theory-influenced concept of “equity.”

Background

Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions was formed when the gun control think tank Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV) merged with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy. It is housed in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ¹

The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy was founded at the Bloomberg School in 1995. EFSGV was founded in 1978 as an advocacy organization that used so-called public health principles to push for stricter gun control. ²

Activities

Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions advocates for gun control based on the research of the research staffers it employs. It uses appeals to the scientific method to justify its political advocacy, claiming that its findings are based on scientific research that “identify a range of innovative solutions” to gun violence. ³

Further, the Center claims that gun violence “disproportionately impacts communities of color” and thus it must ground its work in the critical race theory influenced concept of equity and listen to voices from such communities. ⁴ In February 2023, the Center co-hosted a symposium with Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg American Health Initiative and as well as its Department of Health Policy and Management titled “The Deadly Intersection of White Supremacy and Firearms.” It featured a series of presentations and panels delivered by academics from institutions on topics such as “Racial Resentment, Misogyny, and Attraction to Guns,” “Hate Plus a Gun is Deadly,” and “Guns, Racism, and Extremism in the United States.” ⁵

It claims to work in 19 states, publishing 460 peer-reviewed papers and employing 33 staff members. ⁶

The center advocates for tighter handgun licensing restrictions.⁷ It also advocates for violence intervention into communities of color, firearm removal laws that would temporarily revoke the right to possess firearms from people deemed mentally unfit, storage laws that would mandate how guns are stored, the repeal of “stand your ground” self-defense laws, and the tightening of public-carry laws.⁸

Leadership

As of 2023, Josh Horwitz and Cass Crifasi were the co-directors of Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Horwitz is a lawyer who builds policy advocacy campaigns informed by “health equity analysis.” Crifasi is a researcher of gun-control policies that ostensibly “can reduce violence and advance equity.” ⁹

1. “About.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Accessed April 21, 2023.  https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/about
2. “About.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Accessed April 21, 2023.  https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/about
3. “About.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Accessed April 21, 2023. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/about
4. “About.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Accessed April 21, 2023.  https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/about
5. ^[1] “The Deadly Intersection of White Supremacy and Firearms.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, February 9, 2023. Accessed April 21, 2023. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/events/2023/the-deadly-intersection-of-white-supremacy-and-firearms.
6. “About.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Accessed April 21, 2023.  https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/about
7. “About.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Accessed April 21, 2023.  https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/about
8. “Solutions to Gun Violence.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Accessed April 21, 2023. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/solutions.
9. “Our Team.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Accessed April 21, 2023. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/team.