Policy Impact Snapshot: Reducing Firearm Violence Through Policy

Firearm violence is a persistent and complex issue that affects communities and individuals across the United States.

In 2023, over 46,000 firearm-related deaths occurred nationwide, including 27,000 deaths by firearm suicide. Among women who die by homicide, 55% are killed by an intimate partner — over half by firearm.

April Zeoli, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan (U-M) School of Public Health and director of the policy core at the U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, studies laws aimed at preventing firearm violence and their effectiveness at reducing related harms. She actively engages with local, state, and national policy leaders and other stakeholders to inform firearm safety regulations. In recognition of her many contributions and impact, Zeoli received the 2024 U-M President’s Award for Public Impact and the 2025 Policy Impact Award from the Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation.

Firearm Violence: Inside the Home and Out

Firearm violence can be prevented. Zeoli's work examines state laws intended to keep firearms out of the hands of those at risk of committing future violence against themselves or others, such as individuals who engage in intimate partner abuse, to determine whether they “work” and can stop firearm-related loss of life.

While women die by homicide at a lower rate than men, those who do are most commonly killed by a current or former intimate partner using a firearm. The majority of perpetrators of intimate partner homicide have a documented history of abuse.

Victims of mass shootings also often include intimate partners and other family members of the shooter. Zeoli’s work shows that 32% of mass shooting events from 2014 to 2017 involved the killing of the shooter’s significant other. Many of those who commit mass shootings have a history of arrest or other involvement with the justice system for domestic violence prior to the event. This suggests firearm prohibition and removal laws for domestic violence perpetrators may help reduce both intimate partner homicide and prevent mass shootings.

In a study of state laws intended to restrict domestic abusers’ access to firearms, Zeoli found laws that restrict the firearm access of those under a domestic violence restraining order (DVRO), and laws that permit the warrantless arrest of DVRO violators, are linked with lower rates of intimate partner homicide.

At the federal level, individuals under certain DVROs are prohibited from purchasing and possessing firearms. However, there are gaps in the national law, such as lack of coverage of dating partners, emergency DVROs, and no requirement that the restrained individual relinquish their firearms. Many (but not all) of these gaps are addressed in state laws in the majority of states and the District of Columbia, including specific language that requires newly prohibited individuals to relinquish their firearms.

Meanwhile, Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), also known as red flag laws, are a new state-level policy intervention that aims to prevent firearm violence. These laws permit authorized individuals, such as law enforcement officials, intimate partners, or family members, to petition the courts for the temporary removal of firearm access for those at risk of committing violence against themselves or others. As of June 2025, 21 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have passed ERPO laws.

Zeoli currently leads the largest national study on ERPOS to date, and her early research shows the majority of ERPO petitions are being granted, especially in cases involving the risk of suicide. In states like Florida, where the highest number of ERPO cases have been granted so far, nearly half of the ERPO requests were in response to a potential risk of suicide, and over one quarter included threats of violence against intimate partners. 

In a study of ERPO laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, and Washington, Zeoli found 10% of over 6,600 filed petitions were in response to a threat to kill at least three people. Of these, 20% targeted K-12 schools, while 15% involved threats against intimate partners. Over 90% of the petitions in these states were filed by law enforcement officers, which the courts overwhelmingly granted. Overall, Zeoli’s findings indicate ERPOs may be an important tool in preventing firearm violence, suicide and homicide.

Policy engagement and sustained impact

Zeoli’s work has helped build the evidence base for the impact of policies intended to regulate firearms, and she uses her research expertise to engage with policy stakeholders to help inform the development and implementation of firearm safety laws.

Zeoli’s efforts have led to numerous opportunities to engage with lawmakers at the federal level. She often participates in congressional briefings, sharing her research on policies intended to reduce firearm-related intimate partner violence; the intersection of domestic violence, firearm restrictions, and mass shootings; and domestic violence laws and firearm violence. She has also taken part in a U.S. Department of Justice-sponsored panel discussion on firearms and domestic abuse, and briefed the U.S. House of Representatives Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. 

Her many engagements with federal policymakers helped to inform the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun safety legislation passed in nearly three decades. The statute, signed in 2022, includes language informed by Zeoli’s research that closes the “boyfriend loophole,” barring all people convicted of misdemeanor domestic abuse from owning a firearm, not just spouses or those living with or who have a child with a victim of abuse. 

In the state of Michigan, Zeoli worked with legislators to inform the state’s most comprehensive set of firearm regulations in over thirty years, including laws passed in 2023 and 2024 related to ERPOs, safe storage, background checks, firearm disposal, and a firearm restriction for individuals convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. 

Following the passage of these laws, Zeoli has continued to provide guidance on their implementation. In 2024, she was appointed to the Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Task Force by Governor Whitmer, where she serves as the chair of the Intimate Partner Violence Subcommittee and as a member of the ERPO Subcommittee. 

Zeoli’s work has been cited by numerous state lawmakers across the country, including in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. She was invited to testify before the Colorado General Assembly in 2021, and before the Washington State Senate in 2023. Her work has been cited in policy documents published by the CDC, the National Academy of Medicine, the U.S. Department of Justice, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization, among others. 

As director of the policy core at the U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Zeoli regularly engages with public stakeholders, communities, and other researchers to help raise awareness of gun violence prevention strategies. She has participated in numerous community discussions across the country and, in 2020, delivered a TEDMED talk on family mass shootings. 

Future research

Zeoli’s future research will continue to examine the intersection of intimate partner violence and firearms. This work will include firearm safety policies, such as ERPOs and DVRO firearm restrictions, and both their implementation and effectiveness at protecting those experiencing the risk of firearm violence. 

More information about April Zeoli’s work can be found on her IHPI Profile and in Michigan Experts.