At the time that these nine jurisdictions began developing their surveillance systems, no standardized definitions or recommendations were available on the best methods of collecting data and appropriate data elements of a firearm injury surveillance system. Consequently, the nine jurisdictions and the CDC devised a list of recommended data elements (RDEs) for fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries. The process used to develop RDEs and the 21 data elements suggested by funded projects are described. Developing surveillance systems are encouraged to include these data elements, although some of the elements will be more easily attainable for fatal injury events than for nonfatal ones and no single data source will be able to provide all the desired information about morbidity and mortality associated with firearm injuries. The RDEs capitalize on preliminary experiences of the nine jurisdictions, but they need to be pilot tested and revised as more information is collected about how well the data elements capture the desired information and whether the information obtained is useful. 4 references and 2 tables