COVID-19 has impacted our lives in many ways. Alongside disruption of education and employment, surveys have shown surges in gun sales and increased reports of domestic violence. Has the pandemic also made American society more violent? Why, and who is most at risk?

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  • Clare Cannon is assistant professor of community and regional development in the Department of Human Ecology at UC Davis. Her research covers the intersection of social inequality, health and environmental justice. With colleagues at Tulane University in New Orleans, Cannon has surveyed working people about their emotional and mental health during the pandemic. In recently published results, they found that the stress and social isolation of the pandemic may be putting more people at risk of domestic violence. 
  • Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz is a sociologist and epidemiologist, and assistant professor with the Violence Prevention Research Program in the UC Davis Department of Emergency Medicine. Her research focuses on the social and policy determinants, consequences, and prevention of violence and related health outcomes over the life course and across generations, with a particular emphasis on structurally rooted chronic stressors in neighborhood context. She is currently the lead investigator for the California Safety and Wellbeing Survey, an ongoing statewide survey on a wide range of topics related to firearm ownership and exposure to violence and its consequences in California.