As millions marched against gun violence across the country on Saturday, research by Stanford Health Policy experts about the impact of gun ownership on public health was also in the spotlight.

The Washington Post published an in-depth story about how the work of gun researchers is finally getting attention — an unfortunate consequence of the recent mass shootings in the United States.

David Studdert — a professor of medicine and law — and Yifan Zhang, a biostatics and data analyst with Stanford Health Policy, along with seasoned gun researcher Garen Wintemute of UC Davis’s Violence Prevention Research Program, are trying to answer the question: Are you more or less likely to die if you own a firearm?

“The explosion of national interest in the problem of gun violence since the Parkland shooting has been remarkable,” said Studdert, who is also a core faculty member at Stanford Health Policy.  “And it is inspiring to hear students’ voices — that is definitely a new twist in the politics around this issue. I think there is momentum for change, but I remain pessimistic that we will see the enactment of any substantial reforms at the federal level.”

The Post wrote:

Studdert’s group is using a data set unique to California because of the state’s strict gun laws. Every time a gun is sold in California, a background check logs the purchase and purchaser with California authorities, who also have been unique in their willingness to share such politically fraught data with academic researchers.

Using a sample of 25 million people (taken from California’s voter registration records), Studdert’s team plans to identify handgun owners with the firearm sales records, then compare that against state death records.

The resulting data in theory will help them determine the relationship — whether good or bad — between gun ownership and death.

They call the project LongSHOT, a nod to the project’s scale and ambition.

Academic researchers who were studying the impact of gun violence on public health were dealt a huge financial and political blow in 1996, when the so-called Dickey Amendment was passed by Congress under pressure from gun lobbyists. The law forbids the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fund research that might be seen as advocating for gun control. This choked off federal grant money and essential data-gathering on gun violence.

But tucked into the government spending bill in Congress last week was language that indicates the CDC now has the authority to conduct research on the causes and effects of gun violence. Though gun researchers are skeptical that the change in tone will lead to any significant support or funding, some believe that it’s a start. The $1.3 trillion government funding measure also includes efforts to improve state compliance with the national background check system, as well as funding for school counseling and safety programs.

Again, from The Post story:

Yifan Zhang was finishing her PhD in biostatistics at Harvard five years ago when news broke of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

As a graduate student from China, specializing in highly technical design of clinical drug trials, she had little connection to America’s long-running debate over gun violence. But even now, she said, the anguished faces of those parents she saw on television remain seared in her memory.

So when she heard about a gun-violence research project at Stanford University that could use the statistical skills she had honed on pharmaceuticals, she jumped at the chance.

“I have a son who just turned 1,” said Zhang, 31. “When I think about what I will need to teach him about protecting himself, I think about that school shooting.”

Zhang hopes the Stanford team can one day have an impact.

“I think there are going to be some big decisions that the whole country has to make together, and I’m hoping that our research can help provide evidence and information for the decision making,” she said.

Since the mid-19th century, the United States has had strong—albeit sometimes tense—historic ties with Kanagawa Prefecture. In 1853, U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry entered Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay) just south of Yokohama with the mission of pressuring Japan to open its ports to the United States. This resulted in the signing of the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854, which opened the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to trade and established the first U.S. consulate office. During World War II, the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in Kanagawa was attacked by the United States, and since the end of the war in 1945, its facilities have been used by the U.S. Navy. Today, United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka is home port for the U.S. Seventh Fleet.

Students in Kanagawa Prefecture are taught about these historic episodes between their prefecture and the United States. They also live alongside a significant number of American residents today. Following Tokyo and excluding U.S. military personnel in Japan, Kanagawa has the second largest number of American residents in Japan. Because of these historical and contemporary ties with the United States, some of Kanagawa’s teachers have reached out to the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) with hopes to more fully introduce their students to U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations and also to encourage their students to study abroad in the United States. This encouragement was inspired in large part by the Japanese government.

On May 1, 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Stanford University—a first by a Japanese prime minister—and said that he wants “the best and brightest Japanese talent” to study at places like Stanford and to learn about Silicon Valley. Shortly after Prime Minister Abe’s visit to Stanford, SPICE launched an online course called Stanford e-Japan for high school students in Japan with funding from the United States-Japan Foundation, New York City. Stanford e-Japan, which is taught by Waka Takahashi Brown, introduces topics like Commodore Perry, World War II, and Silicon Valley to students with hopes that they will come to better understand the bilateral relationship and also consider someday studying in the United States.

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One of the high schools that has enthusiastically supported and enrolled students in Stanford e-Japan is Yokohama Science Frontier High School (YSFH). Thanks to the initiative of teachers Nobuyo Uchimura and Yukimasa Uekusa, Naomi Funahashi and Rylan Sekiguchi traveled to Kanagawa Prefecture to visit YSFH and a partner school, Yokosuka Senior High School. They met with faculty, chatted with students, and led several classes and after-school sessions to encourage students’ global thinking. Following their school visit, English teacher Gentaro Tatsumi, noted, “Sekiguchi-sensei and Funahashi-sensei gave very impressive lessons to my students. I believe many of them surely had moments to think deeply about war and peace with different perspectives or viewpoints. Also, I was so happy to see that there were several students who showed a big interest in studying abroad following their after-school presentation.”

Four of these students had the occasion to see Funahashi and Sekiguchi again but this time at Stanford University. Three students (Ayaka Nakaminami, Daiichi Soma, and Rin Suzuki) from YFSH and one student (Keisuke Hara) from Yokosuka Senior High School participated in a SPICE-led seminar on January 24, 2018. After engaging in a series of globally themed lessons led by Funahashi and Sekiguchi, the students toured Stanford campus and experienced lunch in a student dining hall. The afternoon portion of the seminar featured a presentation by Tatsumi-sensei on English education in Japan, remarks by Uchimura-sensei and Uekusa-sensei, and four science research-focused presentations that were given by the students to Stanford community members.

One of the audience members was Stanford law student, Yuta Mizuno, an attorney with Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu in Tokyo. “I was truly impressed by the students’ preparation and performance with the presentations,” he reflected. “I’m sure that they gained inspiration and confidence from the seminar here at Stanford, and there’s no doubt that they have a promising future on the global stage. I wish I could’ve had such a priceless experience when I was in high school.” In between the student presentations, Mizuno also had the chance to talk with Hara, who aspires to be an attorney.

After their return to Kanagawa Prefecture, Uchimura-sensei commented, “Our visit to Stanford was a precious opportunity. The seminar we had at SPICE was focused on ‘globalization’ and ‘interdependence,’ which are especially important themes today. The four selected students, who are potential global leaders, were lucky enough to have been given the chance to experience studying at a U.S. university early in life. We are convinced that this experience at SPICE has given them a guide into their future.”

SPICE expects that many students from Kanagawa Prefecture will apply to future offerings of Stanford e-Japan, due in large part to the enthusiasm of the teachers and the students who represented their prefecture so well. SPICE’s hope is that the four students will someday return to Stanford or other U.S. universities as students. It is remarkable how the once tense relationship between Kanagawa (and Japan broadly) and the United States has evolved into a close interdependent friendship. We entrust the future of this friendship to students like Nakaminami, Soma, Suzuki, and Hara.