Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change (Coursera)

Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change (Coursera)

Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change is designed to provide learners with the best available science and insights from top scholars across the country as well as the skills to understand which interventions are the most effective to offer a path forward for reducing gun violence in our homes, schools, and communities.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Through this course, you will learn how to:

  1. Appreciate the scope of gun violence and the importance of considering the issue across a variety of contexts.
  2. Describe the role of law and policy in addressing gun violence at the federal, state, and local levels.
  3. Compare the effectiveness of gun violence policies and highlight the importance of changing the way we talk about gun violence.
  4. Describe state standards for civilian gun carrying and use and how those standards affect crime and violence.
  5. Describe how firearm design is regulated, the effective and just enforcement of firearm laws, and strategies for reducing police-involved shootings.
  6. Identify and explain evidence-based programs to reduce gun violence and understand public opinion on gun policy.

As a student of this course, it’s important to recognize that you are part of an international learning community. We understand that gun violence can be a difficult issue to discuss and we all have our own set of opinions and beliefs. However, we ask you to please remember that gun violence is something that affects every person differently. It’s important to understand that this course is intended to generate productive and meaningful conversation.
We ask students of this course to abide by the rules outlined and expected of you by Coursera’s Code of Conduct Policy. Please help us promote a healthy, productive, and sustainable learning environment for all and practice the following principles:
Be polite.
 Treat your fellow learners with respect.
 Insulting, condescending, or abusive words will not be tolerated.
 Do not harass other learners.
 Polite debate is welcome as long as you are discussing the ideas or the evidence, not attacking the person.
Be sensitive.
 Remember that Coursera is a global forum with learners from many different cultures and backgrounds.
 Be kind, thoughtful, and open-minded when discussing race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or controversial topics since others likely have differing perspectives.
Post appropriate content.
 Content that violates the Honor Code or Terms of Service is not permitted.
 You may not post inappropriate (e.g., pornographic or obscene) content.
 Do not post copyrighted content.
 Do not advertise or promote outside products or organizations.
 Do not spam the forums with repetitive content.

Syllabus

WEEK 1: Guns and Gun Violence in America
WEEK 2: Legal Issues Relevant to Preventing Gun Violence
WEEK 3: Evidence-Based Policies to Prevent Gun Violence
WEEK 4: Guns in Public Places, Schools, and Homes
WEEK 5: Regulating Gun Design, Enforcing Gun Laws, and Reducing Police-Involved Shootings
WEEK 6: Community and Clinical Interventions to Prevent Gun Violence and Public Support for Gun Policy

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Diagnóstico y tratamiento del dolor neuropático en atención primaria (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad de los Andes

Diagnóstico y tratamiento del dolor neuropático en atención primaria (Coursera)

Este curso busca fortalecer las habilidades diagnósticas de los profesionales de la salud frente al dolor neuropático y su adecuado tratamiento. El curso se divide en cuatro módulos, en cada uno podrás conocer el testimonio y el examen físico de una paciente real, con el fin de identificar de su propia experiencia lo que significa esta condición. En el primer módulo, dividido en dos lecciones, se presenta una perspectiva general sobre la definición y características, diagnóstico y tratamiento del dolor neuropático.

Nov 9th 2026
4 Weeks
Opioid Epidemic: From Evidence to Impact (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Opioid Epidemic: From Evidence to Impact (Coursera)

While prescription opioids serve an invaluable role for the treatment of cancer pain and pain at the end of life, their overuse for acute and chronic non-cancer pain as well as the increasing availability of heroin and illicit fentanyl, have contributed to the highest rates of overdose and opioid addiction in U.S. history. Evidence-informed solutions are urgently needed to address these issues and to promote high-quality care for those with pain. This course and the report it is based on are a response to that need. They offer timely information and a path forward for all who are committed to addressing injuries and deaths associated with opioids in the United States.

Nov 16th 2026
4 Weeks
Community Awareness: Police Brutality in the U.S. (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Community Awareness: Police Brutality in the U.S. (Coursera)

The tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have sparked a wave of renewed protests against police brutality across the United States. These nationwide uprisings have transformed into an intense interest from the public around understanding systemic racism and abuse of power. Millions of Americans and people around the world are watching incidents of police violence and excessive force captured on video, but are looking to learn about the inequalities at the root of these incidents. While the calls of Black Lives Matter protesters to #DefundThePolice are being heard for the first time by many Americans, they are part of a longstanding effort by communities and activists to reinvest in communities rather than policing and prisons.

Nov 16th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Systems Science and Obesity (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Systems Science and Obesity (Coursera)

Systems science has been instrumental in breaking new scientific ground in diverse fields such as meteorology, engineering and decision analysis. However, it is just beginning to impact public health. This seminar is designed to introduce students to basic tools of theory building and data analysis in systems science and to apply those tools to better understand the obesity epidemic in human populations.

Nov 16th 2026
4 Weeks
Rastreamento de contato da COVID-19 (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Rastreamento de contato da COVID-19 (Coursera)

A crise da COVID-19 criou uma necessidade sem precedentes de rastreamento de contato em todo o país, exigindo que milhares de pessoas aprendessem rapidamente as principais habilidades. As qualificações para os cargos de rastreamento de contato diferem em todo o país e no mundo, com alguns novos cargos abertos a indivíduos com diploma de ensino médio ou equivalente.

Nov 16th 2026
1 Week
Antibióticos ¿cuándo, cómo y para qué? (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Antibióticos ¿cuándo, cómo y para qué? (Coursera)

¿Qué es lo primero que haces cuándo te sientes enfermo? ¿Vas a la farmacia y le pides al boticario que te brinde un antibiótico que te “cure” rápidamente? ¿Tus familiares, amigos, conocidos, lo hacen? En este curso, aprenderás las razones por las cuales el uso inadecuado de antibióticos es perjudicial para tu salud y por qué este comportamiento ha dado lugar al fenómeno de salud pública denominado “resistencia bacteriana”.

Nov 16th 2026
4 Weeks
Tobacco Control: Agile Policy, Research and Practice (Coursera) Coursera
Imperial College London

Tobacco Control: Agile Policy, Research and Practice (Coursera)

This course teaches you about the global health harms caused by tobacco and the efforts underway to combat these. You'll analyse the strategies and tactics used by the tobacco industry, and their allies, to keep people buying their products, and you'll reflect on the role played by public health research in pushing back against this pressure with the ultimate aim of improving health.

Nov 9th 2026
3 Weeks
Value-Based Care: Organizational Competencies (Coursera) Coursera
University of Houston

Value-Based Care: Organizational Competencies (Coursera)

This course is designed to introduce you to the changes an organization will need to make to succeed in value-based care and payment. In previous courses in this specialization, you were introduced to the Accountable Care Learning Collaborative (ACLC). One of the models you will explore is the ACLC’s Accountable Care Atlas model. This model, along with additional information from the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (HCP-LAN), will help you begin to understand the challenges and rewards of transitioning to value-based care. In Module 2, you will explore those concepts through the lenses of three types of healthcare organizations, tying those examples back to types of value-based contracts.

Nov 16th 2026
3 Weeks
Training and Learning Programs for Volunteer Community Health Workers (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Training and Learning Programs for Volunteer Community Health Workers (Coursera)

Volunteer community health workers (CHWs) are a major strategy for increasing access to and coverage of basic health interventions. Our village health worker training course reviews the process of training and continuing education of CHWs as an important component of involving communities in their own health service delivery. Participants will be guided through the steps of planning training and continuing education activities for village volunteers. The course draws on real-life examples from community-directed onchocerciasis control, village health worker programs, community case management efforts, peer educators programs and patent medicine vendor training programs, to name a few.

Nov 9th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Antibiotic Stewardship (Coursera) Coursera
Stanford University

Antibiotic Stewardship (Coursera)

Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed classes of drugs and it is estimated that approximately 50% of antibiotic use, in both the outpatient and inpatient settings, is inappropriate. At the same time, in contrast to any other class of drugs, every antibiotic use has a potential public health consequence – inappropriate use may not harm only the individual patient, but contributes to societal harm by exerting an unnecessary selective pressure that may lead to antibiotic resistance among bacteria. This video based course will introduce learners to the basic principles of appropriate antibiotic use, demonstrate how to apply these principles to the management of common infections, and outline how to develop and maintain an antimicrobial stewardship program.

Nov 9th 2026
4 Weeks
Point of Care Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections (Coursera) Coursera
Johns Hopkins University

Point of Care Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections (Coursera)

What are sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and why do we care? What is point of care testing (POCT)? What do clinicians and patients want and need from the POCT for STIs? Point of care testing, or medical diagnostic testing done at the time of patient care, is an important tool for the treatment of sexually transmitted infections. This course looks at point of care testing for sexually transmitted infections from the perspective of the clinician, the patient, and the regulatory environment.

Nov 9th 2026
4 Weeks