Data-based Gun Policy Links

This is a clearinghouse post for interesting, data-based links I run across online. There’s a lot more heat than data on gun control, especially for my US-based friends. This is my small contribution to enabling real conversation.

Effects of Policies Designed to Keep Firearms from High-Risk Individuals

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122516

An analysis of studies conducted between 1999 and 2004, by public health and gun violence researchers Webster (Johns Hopkins) and Wintemute (University of California).

Excerpt:

Finally, it is surprising that prior studies have not systematically examined if and how policy effects are modified by the presence of other policies. For example, the impact of a law expanding firearm prohibitions to violent misdemeanants may depend on whether the state has a robust system of laws in place to prevent diversions. Similarly, the impact of antidiversion laws such as comprehensive background checks should depend on the breadth of the prohibitions for high-risk individuals.

Do Laws Restricting Access to Firearms by Domestic Violence Offenders Prevent Intimate Partner Homicide?

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0193841X06287307

2006 study to determine the effects of three different kinds of laws restricting gun access in domestic violence situations.

Excerpt from the abstract:

The authors find that female intimate partner homicide rates decline 7% after a state passes a restraining order law. They find no effect from the domestic violence misdemeanor or confiscation laws.

Effects of domestic violence policies, alcohol taxes and police staffing levels on intimate partner homicide in large US cities

http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/16/2/90

Excerpt from the abstract:

State statutes restricting those under DVROs from accessing firearms, and laws allowing the warrantless arrest of DVRO violators are associated with reductions in total and firearm IPH. Police staffing levels are also negatively associated with IPH and firearm IPH. There was no evidence that other policies to restrict firearm access to domestic violence offenders or alcohol taxes had a significant impact on IPH.

Firearm Laws and Firearm Homicides: A Systematic Review

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2582989

2017 systematic review of forty years of peer-reviewed studies on firearm law efficacy, comparing five different types of regulation: “those that (1) curb gun trafficking, (2) strengthen background checks, (3) improve child safety, (4) ban military-style assault weapons, and (5) restrict firearms in public places and leniency in firearm carrying.”

Excerpt from abstract:

In the aggregate, stronger gun policies were associated with decreased rates of firearm homicide, even after adjusting for demographic and sociologic factors. Laws that strengthen background checks and permit-to-purchase seemed to decrease firearm homicide rates. Specific laws directed at firearm trafficking, improving child safety, or the banning of military-style assault weapons were not associated with changes in firearm homicide rates. The evidence for laws restricting guns in public places and leniency in gun carrying was mixed.

Evaluating the Impact of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” Self-defense Law on Homicide and Suicide by Firearm

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2582988

An examination of the impact of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law, using data from before and after the law was put into effect, 1999-2014.

Excerpt:

Since Florida’s stand your ground law took effect in October 2005, rates of homicide and homicide by firearm in the state have significantly increased; through 2014, monthly rates of homicide increased by 24.4% and monthly rates of homicide by firearm by 31.6%. These increases appear to have occurred despite a general decline in homicide in the United States since the early 1990s.32 In contrast, rates of homicide and homicide by firearm did not increase in states without a stand your ground law (New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Virginia), or for either suicide or suicide by firearm.