What it means
Gun violence commonly refers to threatened or intentional harm involving a firearm, including homicide, assault, and suicide. CDC’s broader firearm injury and death data also include unintentional injuries and deaths. These are different categories and should not be combined under an undefined label.
When comparing numbers, name the intent, whether the count includes nonfatal injury, the place and period, and whose experience is left out of the count.
ICM field application · illustrative
See how this idea helps with a decision
Here is an example to work through. The linked source explains the idea or guest account. The next move is ICM guidance.
- Where it shows up
- A grant narrative calls an all-firearm-death total a gun violence count.
- A useful move
- Check whether the source includes suicide, homicide, unintentional deaths, and injuries. State the exact category beside the number before comparing places or years.
- What this does not prove
- Changing the label does not change what the source measured. Do not call the total a count of community shootings.
Follow the question
From this idea to a local decision
Use the part you need next. A guest’s account, research finding, local pattern, and implementation plan answer different questions.
Keep following the subject
Firearm-Related Harm
An ICM umbrella term for the injuries, deaths, threats, and wider effects associated with firearms across different types of harm.
Explore the connectionCheck the local evidence
Resource & Evidence
Choose the specific harm and place, then examine what the data and research actually measure.
Examine sources