MISSION

Psychiatrists for Gun Violence Prevention (P4GVP) is a group of psychiatrists committed to reducing gun violence and its burden on the health of our patients, communities, and loved ones, by leveraging our unique perspective as mental health professionals and physicians to facilitate meaningful change through education, organizing, and professional collaboration.

VISION

We work towards a society where suicides by firearm are an anomaly, where interpersonal gun violence no longer traumatizes our communities, and where mass shootings are historical relics.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

·  The association between mental illness and gun violence is a frequent source of misunderstanding, as are patterns of gun violence in general. Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals can and should play a role in correcting flawed and harmful public messaging;

·  People with serious mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators;

·  We must remember that the burden of gun violence is not shared equally, and this awareness of inequity should inform our work. For instance, people of color and victims of domestic violence are at disproportionately elevated risk of homicide by gun;

·  Suicides make up the majority of gun-related deaths and far outnumber victims of mass shootings;

·  Psychiatrists have a role to play in helping certain individuals at risk for violence reduce that risk, but policies that keep guns out of the hands of individuals at risk of becoming violent are more effective prevention strategies than psychiatrists' efforts to predict violence;

·  Gun violence is a public health crisis that mandates robust government-funded research to prevent needless deaths;

·  We believe in the power of education and fact-based public messaging to create change for our patients, colleagues, students, and the general public.

*DISCLAIMERS

Since the United States (US) has a uniquely severe gun violence problem within the developed world, and since the co-founders of P4GVP live in the US, P4GVP focuses mostly on the gun violence crisis in the US. This focus is not meant to under-value the terrible toll that gun violence takes on populations globally, including in many developing countries. The views expressed on this website represent only the consensus of the co-founders of P4GVP, and not necessarily the official positions of any institutions or organizations that P4GVP co-founders or members are part of.

*LOGO

Our logo was created by Brandon Werner. We thank him for this pro bono graphics design work! Learn more about him and check out his work here.