Experts with the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium (RGVRC) address different facets of firearm violence from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. In this new series, get to know our experts and learn more about their contributions to better understand, prevent, and respond to the public health crisis of firearm violence. Meet Daniel Semenza, an inaugural member of the RGVRC and an associate professor in the Departments of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice and the Department of Urban-Global Public Health (School of Public Health) at Rutgers University–Camden. He also serves as the director of research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, also housed at Rutgers University.

Why do you study gun violence? Why is this an important area of research and how do you see your work helping to address this issue?

I grew up in Monroe, Connecticut, a small town bordering Newtown, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre occurred in 2012. Seeing firsthand how one act of gun violence devastated an entire community shaped my understanding of its profound impact. When I entered graduate school a year later, I quickly realized that for many communities across the country, tragedy and loss from gun violence were not isolated incidents but an everyday reality.

Gun violence affects all Americans, but it disproportionately harms Black and Hispanic people in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Much of my research seeks to document its toll on individuals and communities, revealing the full scope of its impact on public health and social well-being. I’m hopeful this work and that of many others in the field can inform policies and interventions that move us toward a more comprehensive and lasting approach to reducing gun violence while fostering a healthier, more just society.

What is your research focus related to gun violence? What are you currently researching?

I’m currently finishing up my first book for Princeton University Press, which covers how gun violence in all of its forms shapes public mental, physical, and behavioral health while contributing to disparities in well-being along racial and socioeconomic lines. I’m also working on research that examines how exposure to gun violence might be linked to a greater risk for suicide. As part of this work, I’ll be a fellow with the Stoneleigh Foundation in Philadelphia for the next few years, working to better understand this problem and develop solutions among young people exposed to violence in partnership with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

What do you hope that people can take away from the research you are conducting?

The impact of gun violence extends far past those shot and killed—it touches almost all of us. The good news is that more people than ever before are working on this problem—researchers, community leaders, and police chiefs alike—with the shared understanding that everyone has a role to play. I’m hopeful people can see the need to invest in permanent solutions that will reduce gun violence even in the face of political change by improving our social structures, strengthening our state-level gun policies, and shoring up the best evidence-based local practices available to us. We need to be all in if we truly want to make real and sustained change.