California Firearm Violence Research Center

The California Firearm Violence Research Center is a forthcoming research center the California legislature approved to fund on June 16, 2016.[1] The center will live within the University of California and will be the first publicly charted center in the United States.[2][3] Garen Wintemute and Senator Lois Wolk led the proposal to create the center.[1] With access to California's gun violence data, the center will investigate policy efficacy, links between gun violence and alcohol abuse, and more.[1] California's annual death rate related to gun violence has dropped 20% since 2000, despite an unchanged national rate.[2] This center hopes to determine whether other states can replicate this outcome, as research may surface factors that led to the decline.[2] The UC system will finalize details in the summer of 2016 to start recruiting scientists for its research projects.[4] The National Rifle Association opposed the inclusion of the center, as they have lobbied for decades against federal and taxpayer money researching gun violence.[5] Several bills have been turned down in Congress due to a lack of data on the impact of gun violence on public health, and the center's founders hope to provide necessary data to advance legislation.[5]