Identifying Local Level Strategies: North Carolina County Commissioners' Perceptions of Firearm Violence Prevention Interventions

Firearm violence continues to be a national public health issue. The objective of this study was to collect baseline data regarding North Carolina County Commissioners' perceptions of firearm violence and potential local level interventions. A cross-sectional study of NC County Commissioners (n = 582) was conducted to investigate the research questions. The top 5 firearm violence prevention interventions that would be supported by NC County Commissioners included offering gun safety classes for adults (88.5%), implementing public education campaigns to promote responsible firearm storage (86.0%), developing courtroom processes that ensure domestic abusers turn in their guns as required by law (83.2%), adopting a standard policy of tracing all crime guns (79.4%), and providing firearm violence prevention programs for at-risk neighborhoods and individuals (72.2%). North Carolina County Commissioners perceived lack of understanding regarding which interventions would be most effective as the greatest barrier to supporting various types of firearm violence prevention interventions (50.3%).

Automated summary

This study investigated the perceptions of North Carolina County Commissioners on firearm violence and potential local interventions. The findings showed that the commissioners mainly supported gun safety classes, public education campaigns, courtroom processes for domestic abusers, tracking crime guns, and violence prevention programs for at-risk communities and individuals. Lack of understanding regarding intervention effectiveness was identified as the greatest barrier.