How to Use This Page
In the table below, CNA compiled approaches to combating gun violence from across the nation. We identified topics and approaches, in part, based on our assessment of the needs of PSN grantees. We include approaches that are implemented by law enforcement agencies as well as a broad range of other organizations such as hospitals, community organizations, and prosecutors’ offices.
The database includes two columns: the approach name and a brief description. The approach name includes a hyperlink. If you click this link you will navigate to a page that provides detailed information about the approach, including specific programs or implementation sites, links to evaluation evidence (when available), recommended primary and partner implementing agencies, gun violence prevention area, and related PSN pillars. You can use the filters at the top of the table to narrow down the list of approaches to those that are most relevant to your needs or interests.
For example, if you want to find a strategy that fits within the PSN pillar Prevention and Intervention, click the drop down menu next to PSN pillar and then select Prevention and Intervention. This will update the table to reflect only those strategies that fit under the selected PSN pillar.
Gun Violence Resource Hub
| wdt_ID | Approach | Description | Type of Strategy | Proactive law enforcement subtype | Legal subtype | Community based subtype | Use of Technology? | Youth-Focused? | Type of Gun Violence | Addresses Privately Manufactured Firearms (Ghost Guns) | PSN Pillar | Primary Implementing Agency | Level of evaluation evidence (no evaluation, promising, effective) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Body-Worn Camera Auto-Triggering Technologies | Automatic camera initiation, or auto-trigger technology, automatically turns on body-worn cameras in response to specific stimuli. Law enforcement agencies can choose to have body-worn cameras automatically activate in response to the sound of a gun shot, for example. In gun-involved situations, auto-trigger technology decreases the response time to shootings and eliminates instances of officers forgetting to activate their body-worn cameras. | Proactive Law Enforcement | Problem-Solving Approaches | Yes | No | Intentional Homicide, Non-fatal Shooting | No | Focused and Strategic Enforcement | Law Enforcement | No evaluation | ||
| 2 | Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiatives | Comprehensive anti-gang initiatives combine enforcement, prevention, and reentry efforts to target gang-related gun violence in high-crime neighborhoods. Sites that implement this approach tailor the program to their communities' strengths and areas of need. Enforcement efforts include increased federal, state, and local prosecution; prosecution screening; and hot spots policing. Prevention and intervention efforts include skill building, education, outreach, school-based prevention, and substance use treatment. Reentry efforts include outreach and community-based services for individuals reentering the community following incarceration. | Proactive Law Enforcement | Person-Focused Approaches | No | Yes | Gang Violence | No | Community Engagement, Prevention and Intervention, Accountability, Leadership, Focused and Strategic Enforcement | Law Enforcement | Promising | ||
| 3 | Comprehensive Gun Violence Reduction Strategies | Comprehensive gun violence reduction strategies combine enforcement, prevention, policy, and reentry efforts to target gun violence in communities. Approaches are tailored to the specific community in which they are implemented and often involve collaboration between law enforcement, community organizations, prosecutors’ offices, and schools. | Proactive Law Enforcement | Problem-Solving Approaches | No | Yes | Gang Violence, Intentional Homicide, Non-fatal Shooting, Access to Firearms | No | Community Engagement, Prevention and Intervention, Accountability, Leadership, Focused and Strategic Enforcement, Community Engagement, Prevention and Intervention | Law Enforcement | Promising | ||
| 4 | Consent to Search and Seize Program | Consent to search and seize programs focus specifically on the parents of youth living in high-crime areas. Police go door-to-door and ask parents for their consent to search the home for illegal firearms. Recovered firearms are removed from the home, and the parents are referred to community organizations that provide youth services. Since police cannot legally search homes without consent, this program allows collaboration among police, parents, and the community to limit youth access to firearms. | Proactive Law Enforcement | Problem-Solving Approaches | No | Yes | Accidental Injury, Gang Violence, Intentional Homicide, Mass Shooting, Non-fatal Shooting, Suicide, Access to Firearms | No | Community Engagement, Prevention and Intervention, Community Engagement, Prevention and Intervention | Law Enforcement | promising | ||
| 5 | Destruction of Forfeited Firearms | Destruction of forfeited firearms policies mandate that every gun acquired by law enforcement, either through voluntary surrender, recovery, or confiscation, is destroyed to reduce re-circulation. These include firearms seized during an arrest, those that are illegally possessed, those that have been turned over to law enforcement and remain unclaimed by their owners, and agency-issued service weapons. Reducing re-circulation of weapons can limit access to firearms that may be used in future crime. | Legal | Policy | Access to Firearms | Yes | Prevention and Intervention, Prevention and Intervention | Law Enforcement | No evaluation | ||||
| 6 | Detective Function Assessment – PSN Resource | The Detective Function Assessment is a thorough examination of overall investigative functions and processes, including skillsets of the detectives and investigators, training needs, operations, and case management. A comprehensive review and comparison of best practices identifies weaknesses in the criminal case management process. Recommendations are provided to improve the overall investigative functions, thus increasing the number of case closures and holding the trigger-pullers accountable. | Proactive Law Enforcement | Problem-Solving Approaches | Yes | No | Intentional Homicide, Non-fatal Shooting | No | Strategic Enforcement | PSN TTA Providers | No evaluation | ||
| 7 | Hot Spots Policing and Directed Patrols | Hot spots policing and directed patrols are similar strategies which focus on increasing law enforcement resources in areas known to experience high rates of crime. Directed patrols targeting gun violence typically include intensive patrol in high gun crime areas. Directed patrols are usually larger than hot spots. With both strategies, officers focus on proactive enforcement and investigation rather than responding to calls for service. Officers assigned to each priority area will diagnose the root causes of crime and disorder and address them, creating a crime prevention-based system. | Proactive Law Enforcement | Place-Based Approaches | Yes | No | Gang Violence, Intentional Homicide, Non-fatal Shooting, Access to Firearms | No | Focused and Strategic Enforcement | Law Enforcement | Effective | ||
| 8 | Dispossessing Firearms from Individuals Who Engage in Domestic Violence | Dispossessing firearms from individuals who engage in domestic violence prevents repeat partner violence. Some states allow or require law enforcement officials to confiscate firearms when they are called to a scene for domestic violence. These policies can prevent individuals from using guns in future violence toward their partners. Research finds that many individuals never attempt to get their guns back or buy new guns after their gun is confiscated. | Legal | Policy | No | No | Domestic Violence, Access to Firearms | No | Prevention and Intervention, Strategic Enforcement | Legislature | Promising | ||
| 9 | Hospital-Based Violence Intervention | Hospital-based violence intervention programs target emergency department patients admitted for gun-related injuries. Hospital personnel screen these patients to identify those at risk for re-injury. Identified patients are connected with case managers who direct them to a variety of services including mental health services, tattoo removal, adult education, job training, housing support, and court advocacy. Case managers monitor these individuals for several months post-release from the hospital. | Community-Based | Hospital-Based | No | Yes | Gang Violence, Non-fatal Shooting | No | Community Engagement, Prevention and Intervention | Healthcare providers | Effective | ||
| 10 | Environmental Design | Environmental approaches aim to reduce crime and the fear of crime through the design and maintenance of a physical environment, such as improving visibility within public areas. Abandoned buildings and vacant lots are prime locations for illegal activities, such as illegal gun distribution. By eliminating these areas of concealment, gun violence and other illegal activities are reduced. | Community-Based | Property/Economic | Yes | Yes | Gang Violence, Non-fatal Shooting | No | Strategic Enforcement, Prevention and Intervention | City planners, schools, business owners, building owners | Promising |
It is our goal to provide the most complete database possible. If you notice that we are missing an approach, please email our team at psntta@cna.org and we will review the approach, and if appropriate, include it in the table. We are particularly interested in highlighting the work of PSN grantees; if your agency has an approach to add please contact us so that we can include your work (and credit your site) in this resource.
Sources
We identified these approaches from a variety of sources, including: National Academies of Sciences reports, NIJ’s Crime Solutions, OJJDP’s Model Program Guide, the Campbell Collaboration, RAND’s Gun Policy Research Review, Youth.gov’s Evidence-Based Program Directory, the Gifford’s Law Center, and PSN grantees themselves. Where applicable, we include links to evaluations of the approaches or specific programs within each approach. We label the level effectiveness based on the Crime Solutions scale.
We include approaches that have been evaluated and are considered promising or effective in reducing gun violence. Promising programs have some evidence that they achieve their intended outcomes and effective programs have strong evidence that they achieve their intended outcomes. Given that many agencies are implementing innovative approaches to combating gun violence, we include approaches for which there is not yet any evaluation evidence available so that the database can reflect the most current approaches known to the field.
We also include some older, landmark programs to offer a basis for how we have gotten where we are with some approaches. We include these older programs to help suggest ideas for things that have worked in the past.
We include programs that address gun violence through proactive law enforcement, legal, or community-based approaches (including in schools). We do not include any approaches that have been evaluated and found to have no or undesirable effects on gun violence. We also excluded programs for which there is no evaluation but there are significant concerns about potential negative consequences of the approach. We recognize that there are some approaches that are missing. We have prioritized the most promising and effective approaches and will continue to update this resource at least annually. If there is an approach you would like to see added, please email our team at psntta@cna.org. Similarly, if there are approaches you think should be removed, please email our team and we will review.