UC Davis expert available to comment on Empire State Building shootings

Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine physician and director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program, is available to comment on the stray-bullet shooting incident that occurred outside the Empire State Building today.

Wintemute is recognized as one of the nation's foremost scholars addressing violence as a public health problem, and is a national expert on firearm violence and public policies and attitudes related to firearms. In July 2012, he published the first national study of stray-bullet shootings, an often-overlooked form of gun violence. That study found that most people killed or wounded in stray-bullet shootings were unaware of events leading to the gunfire that caused their injuries, and nearly one-third of the victims were children, and nearly half were female.  

Wintemute's other research focuses on the nature of violence and the development of effective prevention measures. He has published findings from numerous studies regarding firearm accessibility, connections between firearm ownership and violence, and related subjects. Wintemute is courageous in his pursuit of data and insights, working undercover at gun stores, gun shows and pawn shops to investigate how illegal sales are made.

Wintemute has testified before Congress, the California Legislature and various local governments and has served as a consultant for the National Institute of Justice; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the World Health Organization; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the American Red Cross. He holds the first Susan P. Baker-Stephen P. Teret Chair in Violence Prevention at UC Davis Health System.