Research–Practice Partnerships to Advance a State-Level Public Health Approach to Firearm Injury Prevention in the United States: A Colorado Case Study

Firearm injuries and violence are a leading cause of death and a public health crisis in the United States, where firearms were the leading method of suicide and homicide deaths in 2022. For nearly one-quarter of a century, the federal government did not fund research on firearm mortality and morbidity, but the field of firearm injury prevention is now seeing new federal, state, and foundation funding and infrastructure opportunities. The prior lack of funding has affected researchers and practitioners in firearm injury prevention, emphasizing the need for these 2 groups to now work collaboratively to understand the problem and develop, test, and scale solutions to this public health crisis. This case study describes ways in which University of Colorado researchers partnered with public health practitioners at the newly formed Colorado Office of Gun Violence Prevention to understand and address firearm injuries in Colorado. The partnership used a public health approach to firearm injury prevention focused on building infrastructure and activities in 3 key areas: (1) enhancing data infrastructure and public-facing access to data, (2) translating research evidence to practice approaches, and (3) evaluating state prevention strategies to inform quality improvement. This case study can be used to inform research–practice partnerships charged with building, implementing, evaluating, and scaling firearm injury prevention efforts.