Abstract
In the USA, the relationship between the legal availability of guns and the firearm-related homicide rate has been debated. It has been argued that unrestricted gun availability promotes the occurrence of firearm-induced homicides. It has also been pointed out that gun possession can protect potential victims when attacked. This paper provides a first mathematical analysis of this tradeoff, with the goal to steer the debate towards arguing about assumptions, statistics, and scientific methods. The model is based on a set of clearly defined assumptions, which are supported by available statistical data, and is formulated axiomatically such that results do not depend on arbitrary mathematical expressions. According to this framework, two alternative scenarios can minimize the gun-related homicide rate: a ban of private firearms possession, or a policy allowing the general population to carry guns. Importantly, the model identifies the crucial parameters that determine which policy minimizes the death rate, and thus serves as a guide for the design of future epidemiological studies. The parameters that need to be measured include the fraction of offenders that illegally possess a gun, the degree of protection provided by gun ownership, and the fraction of the population who take up their right to own a gun and carry it when attacked. Limited data available in the literature were used to demonstrate how the model can be parameterized, and this preliminary analysis suggests that a ban of private firearm possession, or possibly a partial reduction in gun availability, might lower the rate of firearm-induced homicides. This, however, should not be seen as a policy recommendation, due to the limited data available to inform and parameterize the model. However, the model clearly defines what needs to be measured, and provides a basis for a scientific discussion about assumptions and data.
Highlights
Gun violence has been an ongoing problem in the United States of America [1], with an incidence and cost of gun-related homicides that is comparable to some diseases of major public health concern [2]
The Modeling Approach To calculate the effect of different gun control policies on the gun-induced death rate of people, we turn to a mathematical framework that is constructed
This paper provides the first mathematical formulation to analyze the tradeoff in the relationship between legal gun availability and the rate of firearm-induced death: while more wide-spread legal gun availability can increase the number of gunmediated attacks and the firearm-induced death rate, gun ownership might protect potential victims when attacked by an armed offender, and reduce the firearm-induced death rate
Summary
Gun violence has been an ongoing problem in the United States of America [1], with an incidence and cost of gun-related homicides that is comparable to some diseases of major public health concern [2]. The rate at which gun-related homicides occur is certainly determined by a complex set of socio-economic and political factors [3,4]. One of these factors is the degree to which guns are legally available to the general population, determined by the gun policy that is adopted by the country. It has been pointed out that lack of control measures enables more people with criminal and violent predispositions to legally obtain guns, increasing the rate at which firearm-related attacks and homicides occur
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