Firearm Violence and Health in Policymaker Discourse: Mixed Methods Social Media Analysis
Pennsylvania legislators primarily focused on mass shootings and relied on emotional or symbolic language without proposing specific policies. Health frames were rare and typically focused on consequences rather than prevention. Findings highlight an opportunity to support policymakers with health-informed messaging strategies to promote actionable firearm violence prevention policies, particularly those addressing prevention.
Authors
- Matthew D. Kearney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2898-573X)
- Anyun Chatterjee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4010-8523)
- Zachary F. Meisel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8474-7993)
- Katherine Kellom (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0445-6614)
- Vivek Ashok (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1108-8872)
- Andrea Szabó (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7181-287X)
- Joel A. Fein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1650-3051)
- Therese S. Richmond (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4104-2621)
- Jonathan Purtle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6908-5944)
- William J K Vervilles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4246-2871)
- Isabella Ntigbu
- Okechi Boms (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8887-5287)
Institutions
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (US)
- City University of New York (US)
- Brown University (US)
- Penn Center for AIDS Research (US)
- University of Cincinnati (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- JMIR Formative Research
- Published
- 2025-11-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.2196/80397
- Primary Topic
- Gun Ownership and Violence Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- University of Pennsylvania
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania