PHILADELPHIA — Public health strategies that helped reduce cigarette smoking in the United States could provide a model for reducing the appeal and use of firearms, particularly handguns, according to a new paper from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.
Efforts to reduce firearm violence have largely focused on intervening with people considered at risk of harming themselves or others. While those approaches remain important, APPC research director Daniel Romer , Ph.D., argues that they could be complemented by a broader public health strategy aimed at reducing demand for firearms as consumer products.
“Universal Strategies to End Appeal of Firearms in America,” is in press in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Personal protection is the most commonly cited reason for owning a firearm, the paper notes. The popularity of handguns for self-defense has also played a role in the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment jurisprudence. In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen , the court described handguns as the “quintessential self-defense weapon” and used that as justification for protecting their use under the Second Amendment.
Romer argues that a universal public health approach could challenge the perception that firearms are a safe and effective means of protecting oneself and others. One potential target is the portrayal of firearms in movies and television, which frequently depicts guns as effective tools for subduing adversaries and protecting oneself or one’s family.
“Those shows make it seem that it is easy to hit their targets with effects that appear bloodless,” Romer writes. “A young person viewing these portrayals could easily get the impression that handguns are a simple and effective way to protect oneself.”
Romer suggests that the public health campaign against cigarettes may offer a useful model. That effort combined education about smoking’s health consequences with measures to reduce the promotion and portrayal of cigarettes, including eliminating paid tobacco product placement in entertainment. Portrayals of smoking in popular movies declined along with population smoking rates.
Earlier research by the policy center’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute found that the rise in firearm use in popular movies and television crime dramas is associated with an increase in firearm homicides, particularly among young people ages 15 to 24. The increase in firearm use in popular movies from 2000 to 2021 also closely tracked increased handgun purchases. These findings parallel what was once observed for adolescent exposure to movie portrayals of cigarettes, but more research is needed to determine the causal impact of exposure to firearms in movies as was done for cigarettes.
Similar strategies could be studied for firearms, Romer argues, including reducing firearm product placement and portrayals in entertainment and educating the public about the risks associated with firearm ownership. Messages could also emphasize the dangers of leaving firearms unsecured in the home.
“The public health approach to cigarettes as a consumer product demonstrated how various forms of public education can debunk the claim that owning a firearm is worth the risks that accompany widespread possession,” Romer says.
Romer adds that further research is needed to determine whether such strategies would be effective, “but the success of the universal public health approach to cigarettes serves as a model for the reduction of the consumer appeal of firearms.”
“Universal Strategies to End Appeal of Firearms in America,” by Daniel Romer, is in press and available as a journal pre-print in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The Annenberg Public Policy Center was established in 1993 to educate the public and policy makers about communication’s role in advancing public understanding of political, science, and health issues at the local, state, and federal levels.
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Commentary/editorial
Universal Strategies to End Appeal of Firearms in America
23-Sep-2026