Gun Violence Prevention

What’s the issue? 33,954 Americans died firearms related deaths in 2014. That’s only slightly lower than the number of Americans who died in car accidents. While horrific mass shootings, such as the one the recently occurred in Las Vegas, are often the catalyst for talking about gun control, and while we should certainly do what we can to prevent them, they account for a very low percentage of death by gun in the United States. In fact, two thirds of gun deaths are suicides, and many others are homicides (often caused by gang violence and domestic violence) that are not classified as mass shootings. A small percentage of gun deaths are also caused by the police. You can read more about my strategies to reduce police violence here.

Why do I care? It doesn’t have to be this way. The rate of gun deaths in the United States so far outpaces all other western democracies that they barely seem to exist in the same universe. You are 15 times more likely to die by gun in the United States than in Germany for example, 18 times more likely than in Australia, and 35 times more likely than in England. In Iceland, death by gun is about as common as dying by electrocution in the United States.

And it doesn’t have to be about the Second Amendment either. There are plenty of measures we can take to reduce gun violence without banning guns or preventing anyone from forming a militia. Most Americans agree; 8 in 10 support at least some kind of tougher gun control measures.

Here are a four things that we could do to reduce gun violence without banning guns:

1. Universal background checks. Currently federal law requires only that licensed gun dealers perform background checks on buyers meaning that private sales (which account for 40% of all gun sales) do not need to take this step. The background check verifies that the buyer is legally allowed to buy a gun- namely that they are not a convicted felon or domestic abuser. However, some states have stricter gun laws, and provide insight showing that expanding background checks works. When Missouri rescinded its universal background check law in 2007 its rate of gun homicide rose by 23%. Similarly, when Connecticut passed a universal background check law in 1995, homicides fell by 40%. The people who benefit the most from this policy change are young men, who are often killed by felons with firearms, and women, who are often killed by abusive domestic partners. 86% of the American electorate supports this measure, which gun experts agree is highly effective.
2. Targeted community intervention. It’s not even necessary to change any laws to make a big impact on gang-related gun violence. Homicide gun violence is not equally problematic across the United States, it heavily concentrated in small areas of some cities. In fact, 26% of America’s gun homicides occur in areas where just 1.6% of Americans live. While it is true (and appalling) that Americans are 25 times more likely to die by homicide than in other high income countries, if you take into account the geographic disparity, this 1.6% of Americans are 400 times more likely to die by homicide. Funding intense and specialized interventions for these high-crime areas (that can be even further narrowed to identify high-risk people) could do more to decrease gun violence than blanket approaches.
3. Extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs). ERPOs allow law enforcement, family members, and certain others who are close to the individual to petition to have an individual’s access to firearms temporarily restricted if they pose an extreme danger to themselves or others. This measure passed in Washington state in 2016 with 71% support. This option is already available in California, Connecticut, and Indiana, and has been proposed in 20 additional states. Parts of this protection can even be advocated without legal change. Some gun owners advocate taking matters into their own hands and safeguarding the weapons of friends in crisis until the crisis passes, similar to the “friends don’t let friends drive drunk” philosophy.
4. Fund gun violence studies. In 1996, the NRA accused the CDC of funding studies that promoted gun control, and as a result Congress threatened to strip the CDC of its funding. The CDC did not undertake another gun violence prevention study for almost 20 years. In 2013, Barack Obama rescinded this ban by executive order, but Congress still refused to fund gun violence prevention studies, and the CDC was still reluctant to participate. The ban also had a chilling effect on other gun violence studies leading to a dearth of information about what is actually effective when it comes to preventing gun violence.

What to do if you care too:

1. Support evidence-based gun violence prevention laws. If you live in one of the 20 states proposing ERPOs, find out how you can get involved to campaign for them. You can also call your Congresspeople to tell them you support a bump stock ban, but know that this measure, while it seems common sense on the surface, would do little to reduce gun violence and may allow the NRA and Republicans to claim they have “done something” about gun violence.
2. Donate to organizations that research gun violence prevention including the Violence Prevention Center or the Giffords Law Center. You can also consult this list of organizations working to stop gun violence.
3. Promote community-based solutions to cut down on local crime. Read more about some here and check out these best practices for addressing community gang problems.
4. Make sure your guns are safely stored. Check out these tips for safe storage in your home (yes, these people make cabinets and thus may benefit from you locking up your gun, but I still found their list useful).