March 23, 2017

    ABA and AMA to host Chicago program on preventing gun violence

    WASHINGTON, March 23, 2017 — The American Bar Association and the American Medical Association will present the program Preventing Gun Violence: Moving from Crisis to Action March 24 at the ABA headquarters in Chicago. The program will explore workable public health responses to reduce gun violence and the overall culture of violence. 

    ABA President Linda Klein and AMA President Andrew Gurman, M.D., will provide opening remarks from 1-1:30 p.m.

    WHAT:           
    Preventing Gun Violence: Moving from Crisis to Action

    WHEN:           
    Friday, March 24, 1–5:30 p.m.

    WHERE:        
    American Bar Association
    321 N. Clark St., 21st floor
    Chicago, 60654

    During the half-day program, expert panels will cover a public health approach to stem gun violence, evidence-based interventions being implemented in Chicago, using the law to support a public health approach to gun violence, and strategies physicians can use to promote gun safety.

    Program highlights include:

    A Public Health Framework and Research Agenda — Panelist Daniel Webster, SC.D. M.P.H., director, Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, will examine the scope of the gun violence problem and what it means to take a public health approach to preventing gun violence.
    1:30-2:15 p.m. 

    An Evidence-based Approach to Preventing Gun Violence in Chicago — Harold Pollack, Ph.D., faculty co-director, Crime Lab, University of Chicago, will draw on data obtained from the Chicago Police Department and other sources to provide a more complete picture of the change in Chicago’s crime problem in 2016 and he will highlight a number of key facts that are important for understanding what happened, what works and what doesn’t.
    2:15-3 p.m. 

    Using the Law to Support a Public Health Approach to Gun Violence — This interactive panel will provide an overview of the current state of gun violence research, current research priorities, and the evidence-base for policy interventions. Panelists Kaveri Vaid, J.D., L.L.M., litigation associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP; Jonathan Lowy, J.D. director, Legal Action Project, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence; and Darrell Miller, J.D., professor of law, Duke University School of Law, will discuss policy interventions and flesh out the parameters of the Second Amendment and how far states, localities, and the federal government can go with laws aimed at preventing gun violence.
    3:15-4:15 p.m.

    Physicians’ Role in Promoting Gun Safety — Panelists Marian Betz, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of emergency medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine; and Megan Ranney, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of emergency medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, will discuss the role of physicians in preventing gun violence, including gun safety counseling, crisis intervention, and a discussion of gun gag laws.
    4:15-5:15 p.m.

    The conference is co-sponsored by the ABA with the American Medical Association and 11 other legal and medical health professional organizations.

    For a complete list of conference panels and speakers and event sponsors, please click here.

    MEDIA CREDENTIALS: This ABA-AMA co-sponsored event is open to credentialed members of the press. For media credentialing, please contact Theresa Melton at 202-662-1516 or Theresa.Melton@americanbar.org.

    The ABA Standing Committee on Gun Violence aims to address the problem of gun violence through public education, bar activation, and legislative effort aimed at reducing gun violence and by taking on a coordinating role for lawyers active in the ABA, for its Sections and Divisions, state and local bars, and private bar groups.

    With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. To review our privacy statement, click here. Follow the latest ABA news at www.abanow.org and on Twitter @ABANews.