A Qualitative Scoping Review of Community Firearm Violence in Low‑Income Settings

Colleen S. Walsh  · Terri N. Sullivan  · Wendy Kliewer  · Katherine M. Ross 

Firearm violence is a public health crisis in the United States thatdisproportionately impacts community members in lowincome areas whowitness and experience violence and violent victimization at elevatedrates compared to other socioeconomic groups, often as result ofcommunity disinvestment and systemic racism (Smith et al., Soc Sci Med246:112587, 2020). While quantitative reviews of firearm violence andrelated factors exist, a review of qualitative methods and findingsregarding exposure to firearm violence has not yet been conducted.This scoping review sought to address a gap in the literature bysummarizing the findings of qualitative studies on community firearmviolence in low-income settings in the U.S. EBSCO databases, CriminalJustice Abstracts, National Criminal Justice Reference ServiceAbstracts, ProQuest, and PsycINFO were searched for studies thatdescribed the firearm related experiences of individuals and familiesin low-income communities. Thirty studies met the criteria for review.Findings were situated within the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention’s (CDC) Social-Ecological Model as a framework forprevention (CDC, The social-ecological model: a framework forprevention,

Journal of Community Health (2025) 50:287–305