Abstract
In December 2019, for the first time in more than 20 years, the US Congress appropriated, and the president signed, a bill that included $25 million for gun violence prevention research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. This research should find ways to reduce injury, death, and suffering while protecting the right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms. Four questions can structure this research agenda. First, what is the problem: How many people get shot, who are they, where does it happen, what is the relationship between the shooter and the victim, what other types of damage are incurred, and are the shootings increasing or decreasing? Second, what are the causes: What is the role of alcohol and drugs; what is the role of gangs, poverty, and systemic racism; what is the role of mental illness, robbery, and domestic violence; what is the role of private gun ownership (both positive and negative) and easy access to guns? What are the factors that protect us, such as stable families and safe environments? Third, what works: Which practices, interventions, policies, and laws work best to prevent these deaths and injuries? And fourth, how do you do it: How do you implement the findings and translate them into policies, legislation, and practices that can be scaled up?
Highlights
Background checksBans on lowquality handguns Bans on sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazinesFirearm safety training requirements Firearm sales reporting, recording, and registration requirementsLicensing and permitting requirementsLost or stolen firearm reporting requirements Waiting periodsPOLICIES REGULATING FIREARM SALES AND TRANSFERS outcomes recreation shootings shootingsInconclusive LimitedInconclusive InconclusiveChild-access prevention lawsConcealed-carry lawsPOLICIES REGULATING THE LEGAL USE, STORAGE, OR CARRYING OF FIREARMS
The public health approach to gun violence prevention is based on science, focused on prevention, and collaborative by necessity
The question we are asking is not whether gun violence is a problem primarily for the public health or criminal justice sector, but how these two sectors can work together—and with other sectors—to maximize public safety and well-being while fully respecting citizen rights. Equity must become another important variable: We must keep focused on the impact of our interventions on racial disparities as we examine the effectiveness of these policies
Summary
Background checksBans on lowquality handguns Bans on sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazinesFirearm safety training requirements Firearm sales reporting, recording, and registration requirementsLicensing and permitting requirementsLost or stolen firearm reporting requirements Waiting periodsPOLICIES REGULATING FIREARM SALES AND TRANSFERS outcomes recreation shootings shootingsInconclusive LimitedInconclusive InconclusiveChild-access prevention lawsConcealed-carry lawsPOLICIES REGULATING THE LEGAL USE, STORAGE, OR CARRYING OF FIREARMS. Better and more timely data on risks associated with different storage practices for specific household configurations would allow individuals and communities to both understand and reduce their firearm injury risk, start to measure the impact of different control measures on law-abiding gun owners, foster transparency about the effectiveness of control measures, and drive continuous improvement [35].
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