Research from Rutgers University published in BMC Public Health in January found that both direct and indirect exposure to gun violence are linked to higher rates of chronic pain among American adults. The study examined six types of gun violence exposure: being shot, being threatened with a gun, hearing gunshots, witnessing a shooting, knowing a friend or family member who was shot, and knowing someone who died by firearm suicide.
Study Findings
Using a nationally representative survey of 8,009 people, researchers found that 23.9% reported pain most days or every day, while 18.8% said they had a lot of pain. Daniel Semenza, the study’s lead author and director of research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, stated that “whether someone has lost a person to gun violence or they’ve been shot themselves, their mental and physical health are inextricably linked.” He noted that “your body, through the experience of post-traumatic stress, is going to feel as if it’s happening over and over and over again.”
The study is among the first to focus on outcomes like chronic pain as part of an emerging body of work on the physical health toll of gun violence exposure. Semenza emphasized that “the toll of gun violence is much broader than we originally anticipated,” highlighting that “for the thousands of people who are killed every year, there are lots of people who knew those folks.”
Patient Example
Mia Tretta, a Brown University junior, exemplifies the study’s findings. In 2019, as a high school freshman at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, Tretta was shot in the stomach by a schoolmate firing a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Two students were killed, including her best friend. Later, in December 2025, while studying for finals at Brown, an active shooter incident occurred on campus, and Tretta experienced pain where she had been shot years earlier—a phenomenon she called “phantom bullet syndrome.”
Tretta underwent surgeries to remove the bullet and later received a nerve block for ongoing pain, though bullet fragments remain in her body. She was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, a chronic disease causing swelling, pain, and stiffness in joints. She stated, “I have dealt with chronic pain, immunodeficiencies, and bodily differences ever since the shooting happened.” Medical care continues indefinitely following such trauma: “Your body will never be the same as it was before. There’s no time that you can’t feel the 7 or 8 inches of scar tissue running through the middle of your stomach.”
An inpatient psychologist who has treated gun violence survivors at a Level 1 trauma center in north Minneapolis noted that trauma following such events extends beyond survivors to families and entire communities, with lasting physical and mental health consequences.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.arcamax.com/healthtips/s-4091294