Sonali is joined by friend of the show and colleague Lalitha Vasudevan, as well as Pop and Play co-hosts Haeny Yoon and Nathan Holbert for a special crossover episode. This episode covers the troubling implications of the "Block 19" - a gun made to be adorned with LEGOs, along with the complex intersection between play and violence. 

Visit the episode page on the Pop and Play site for transcripts and to learn more about what was discussed in this episode.

Our music is selections from “Leafeaters” by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Check out Pop and Play - hosted by Haeny Yoon and Nathan Holbert.

Episode 6 of (Re)Search for Solutions takes a hard look at how in some cases, communities, especially communities of color, are harmed by efforts claiming to be in service of stopping gun violence. We look at one of the most well-known examples of discriminatory policing, “Stop and Frisk,” and how these types of ineffective practices become legitimized. 

Sonali interviews Ekow Yankah, a Professor at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, and Sarah Lustbader, a public defender in New York City, about criminal law and policing as they relate to gun violence. Iesha Sekou, the CEO and founder of Street Corner Resources, also paints a picture of the profound effects gun violence has on communities.

Visit the episode 6 page on researchforsolutions.com for transcripts and other resources.

Production Team: Azsaneé Truss, Joe Riina-Ferrie, Sonali Rajan, and Lalitha Vasudevan

Editing: Azsaneé Truss with the help of the (Re)Search for Solutions team

Special thanks to Joe for mastering this episode!

Music: “Research Area” by Poitr Pacyna

Website: ResearchforSolutions.com

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University.

What if we considered gun violence as an issue of national security? Increasingly, terrorist groups, and specifically white supremacist extremist terrorists, have been turning to guns as instruments of terror for attacks in the United States.

Sonali sits down with Lou Klarevas, political scientist and author of Rampage Nation: Securing America from Mass Shootings, to talk about the intersection of gun violence and security studies. They discuss how and why most deadly terrorist attacks in the United States are now perpetrated using firearms. And she talks with Colin Clarke, a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center about the rise of white supremacist extremist terrorism in particular. Finally, she talks with her sister, Anjana Rajan, who has worked on designing an approach to identifying and preventing attacks by white supremacist extremists using cryptography as a fellow at The Aspen Institute. Listen to find out more about the intersection between gun violence research and national security.

Visit the episode 5 page on researchforsolutions.com for transcripts, links to work by Lou, Colin and Anjana, and other resources.

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University.

In 2018, the NRA tweeted, “Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane,” in response to a paper released by the American College of Physicians (ACP) about Reducing Firearm Injuries and Death in the United States. Soon after, medical professionals from around the country responded with their stories using the hashtag #ThisIsOurLane. 

Episode 4 of (Re)Search for Solutions reflects on the crucial role emergency medicine physicians, who are on the front lines of responding to firearm injuries, play in developing solutions. 

We spoke with Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and faculty at Brown University and co-founder of the AFFIRM Research collective. She tells us how AFFIRM includes the perspectives of more than 40,000 healthcare professionals, public health experts, and researchers to find ways to reduce gun violence. Additionally, Dr. Ameera Haamid, an emergency medicine physician at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and the Assistant Medical Director of the Chicago West EMS System, as well as Dr. Garth Walker,  an emergency medicine physician at Jesse Brown Veteran Affairs Medical Hospital in Chicago and a health equity fellow with the Northwestern Emergency Department and Northwestern Buehler Center for health economics and policy, share their experiences treating gun violence victims. 

Talk to us on Twitter using the hashtag #R4S!
Learn more about AFFIRM and find additional resources on the webpage for this episode: https://researchforsolutions.com/episode-4

Production Team: Azsaneé Truss, Joe Riina-Ferrie, Sonali Rajan, and Lalitha Vasudevan
Editing: Azsaneé Truss with the help of the (Re)Search for Solutions team
Music: “Research Area” by Poitr Pacyna
Website: ResearchforSolutions.com

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University.

In Episode 3 of (Re)Search for Solutions, we discuss firearm suicide prevention. Firearm suicides make up about two-thirds of deaths by firearms, but suicide is sometimes downplayed in conversations about preventing gun violence. 

Sonali interviews Kerry Keyes, psychiatric epidemiologist at Columbia University, about her research on gun violence and suicide. Kerry also shares how suicide has affected her and her family. Sonali also talks with Doreen Marshall, Vice President of Programs at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention [AFSP] about their efforts to prevent firearm suicide and to support survivors of suicide loss. Visit AFSP.org for more resources and support. If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:  1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).

Special thanks to Kyle Oliver for help with mastering this episode.

Talk to us on Twitter using the hashtag #R4S!

Production Team: Azsaneé Truss, Joe Riina-Ferrie, Sonali Rajan, and Lalitha Vasudevan
Editing: Joe Riina-Ferrie with the help of the (Re)Search for Solutions team
Music: “Research Area” by Poitr Pacyna
Website: ResearchforSolutions.com

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University.

In Episode 2 of (Re)Search for Solutions, we talk about adverse childhood experiences, or “ACEs,” and how they can help us think more broadly about the impacts of gun violence and how to prevent it. We focus on the implications for school safety practices in particular.

Lalitha Vasudevan interviews our usual host, Sonali Rajan, Professor at Teachers College and the Mailman School of Public Health, about her work on how researchers can think of gun violence as an “adverse childhood experience.” Sonali talks with Danielle Kassow from Trauma Free NYC about ACEs and how schools can take a “trauma informed” approach to gun violence prevention. And Sonali sits down with Laurie, the director of her son’s pre-school, to talk about how they approach school safety while being mindful of the needs of their students.

Special thanks to Kyle Oliver for help with mastering this episode.

Talk to us on Twitter using the hashtag #R4S!

Production Team: Azsaneé Truss, Joe Riina-Ferrie, Sonali Rajan, and Lalitha Vasudevan
Editing: Joe Riina-Ferrie with the help of the (Re)Search for Solutions team
Music: “Research Area” by Poitr Pacyna
Website: ResearchforSolutions.com

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University.