Firearm Violence Prevention: Analysis of Physical Therapy Political Action Committee Financial Contributions and Congressional Voting

Purpose. The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) declared firearm violence a public health crisis in 2019. This investigation aimed to understand relationships between the amount of APTA political action committee (PTPAC) donations received by a federal candidate and (1) their voting records on FV prevention legislation; and (2) their voting records on other APTA-supported legislation. Methods. Data pertaining to the identification and amount of PTPAC donations to federal Congressional candidates during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles were gathered from the public resource, Open Secrets. Public voting records were compiled on firearm and other APTA-supported legislation. Results. 222 candidates received PTPAC funding, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. A significant negative correlation was found between Congressmembers’ support for FV prevention legislation and the amount of money that PTPAC donated to those legislators (r = 0.22, p = 0.002). PTPAC also gave a significantly lower mean contribution to Congressmembers who voted in favor ($3,515) compared to against ($4,416) other APTA-supported legislation (p=0.02). Conclusions. This investigation revealed an inverse relationship between PTPAC funding allocation and Congressmembers’ support for both firearm violence prevention and other APTA-supported legislation. The finding that candidates receiving higher PTPAC contributions were more likely to vote against APTA-supported policies merits further investigation in the effectiveness of current funding strategies in advancing the organization’s policy objectives. Metric driven re-evaluation of PTPAC funding priorities and criteria for candidate support should be conducted to better align funding decisions with the APTA’s public health initiatives.