For over 25 years, the Joyce Foundation, a CMF member, has supported research and education and focused on evidence-informed policies and strategies to reduce gun violence and help make communities safer.

Joyce recently released a new report which contains the latest work from Toward a Fair and Just Response to Gun Violence, a group convened by the foundation to address gun violence in communities.

The group includes advocates, prosecutors and defense attorneys, policy experts, researchers, violence intervention practitioners and members of law enforcement.

According to the report, Joyce was motivated by a growing sense that researchers, practitioners and advocates in these fields worked largely in siloes. The foundation convened the group to encourage shared learning, identification of common interests and a cooperative approach to exploring and working through areas of disagreement.

The report outlines recommendations for policy, research and practice toward the goal of reducing the harms caused by guns, and reducing the harms caused by punitive law enforcement responses to gun violence.

Recommendations at a glance:

Expand Community Based Interventions: These recommendations recognize the importance of non-law enforcement approaches in reducing community gun violence.

• Treat community violence intervention (CVI) as a public health intervention.
• Create or expand citywide offices of violence prevention.
• Increase public investment in CVI and improve coordination of funds for community-based programs.
• Continue to increase the professionalization of the field of community violence intervention and prevention.
• Improve economic mobility, access to safe and affordable housing, and access to healthcare for returning residents through increased collaboration between CVI and reentry stakeholders.

Emphasize Supply Side Solutions to Gun Violence: These recommendations address gaps in existing firearms laws that enable gun trafficking and gun crime.

• Institute licensing for handgun purchasers.
• Strengthen federal and state policies to enhance gun seller accountability to reduce gun violence.
• Regulate privately made firearms and require microstamping technology.
• Assess the racial equity implications of proposed firearm policies.

Refocus the Law Enforcement Response to Illegal Gun Possession: These recommendations point toward a more fair and effective approach to policing and prison sentencing in gun possession cases.

• Increase investment in communities that are heavily affected by gun violence to develop their capacity to respond effectively.
• Refocus policing tactics relating to gun possession toward high-risk people and places, and away from harmful approaches that undermine constitutional protections, trust and legitimacy.
• Study and expand diversion options for nonviolent illegal gun possession.
• End the use of mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent, illegal firearm possession and move toward individualized sentencing that avoids custodial sanctions where appropriate.

The report also offers additional recommendations that were discussed by the group but that did not achieve consensus to include as recommendations of the whole.

Want more?

Read the full report.

Learn more about the Joyce Foundation’s gun violence prevention work.