A Roadmap For Safety: New Policies to Reduce Gun Violence in Maryland
A new guide offers a roadmap to stronger gun violence policies in Maryland. The report produced by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in collaboration with Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence shares data-informed steps for Maryland policymakers to reduce firearm deaths. In Maryland, guns are used in the majority of both homicide and suicides. In 2024, data sourced from the MDH Firearm Violence Dashboard recorded 671 firearm-related deaths in Maryland, with approximately 55 percent resulting from homicides and 44 percent from suicides.
Experts from the Center and Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence crafted a list of strategies to save lives from firearm violence. The authors have organized their recommendations into seven categories:
- Strengthen the Firearm Purchaser Licensing Process
- Improve the Handgun Roster Review Process
- Refine Safe Storage Requirements
- Enrich Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Implementation
- Upgrade Domestic Violence Prevention Protections
- Enhance Maryland’s Gun Violence Prevention Infrastructure
- Improve State Regulation of Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs)
“Firearm violence remains a serious public health concern that affects all Marylanders” states Ethan Bartlett, MSPH ‘24, Assistant Research and Policy Advisor at the Center. “Maryland has made progress in passing firearm policies to make our communities safer – now our report can help lawmakers strengthen their efforts.”
READ FULL MARYLAND ROADMAPDOWNLOAD MARYLAND POLICY CHECKLIST READ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This is the fifth in a series of state policy roadmaps the Center has released:
