Firearm safety training is only half the solution.
AFFIRM at The Aspen Institute is the nation's leading non-profit dedicated to ending the American firearm injury epidemic using a health-based approach. We combine health expertise with the knowledge and traditions of responsible firearm stewardship to achieve consensus recommendations. How a firearm will be used depends on the mental, physical, and social health of the handler. We focus on strategies that examine a person’s whole health - physical, mental, and social health. We are gun owners and non-gun owners committed to reducing the rate of firearm injuries and deaths.
In 2017, Drs. Christopher Barsotti and Megan Ranney founded AFFIRM Research, now AFFIRM at The Aspen Institute, based on their shared commitment to approaching firearm injury as a public health issue rather than a political one, and the progress made in the past five years has worked to change the national conversation surrounding firearm-related injuries.
AFFIRM at The Aspen Institute has led community-driven conversations, bringing together diverse stakeholders to reflect on the real ripple effects of firearm injury and apply prevention evidence in ways that resonate with those who are at risk. Our work overcomes partisan divides, engages trusted messengers, and creates actionable plans to reduce the incidence and effects of firearm injury on rural and urban communities alike.
We've taken an oath to heal, but we all have a duty to protect. The problem of firearm injury is more than bullet holes. We, as physicians, know how deep the problem runs - but more importantly, we know it doesn’t have to be this way. There are health-based solutions that can make an immediate impact.
— Christopher Barsotti, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, Co-Founder and Program Director and Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, FACEP, Co-Founder and Senior Strategic Advisor