America’s battle with ignorance; limited firearm research stifles gun legislation and policy answers
To reduce gun violence in America, we must first understand it. Illustration by Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz. Source: Yes! Magazine
Evidence-based research has long been the gold standard that justifies changes in laws and policies. Think of drug trials, highway and airline safety standards, and even what fishing lures work on what fish. But when it comes to firearms, few gun safety policies have decades of research behind them, whether we want it to better understand mass shootings, active shooters, or simply 2nd Amendment issues.
Why? Because aggressive decades-old efforts continue to block firearm research. It’s well documented and I talk about it in my book, How to Talk about Guns with Anyone. Today, California is the only state that requires documentation of every gun sale or transfer, making the state’s data a goldmine for researchers. But now, an advocacy group is suing the state and has won a temporary injunction to block use of the firearms ownership data by researchers across the country.
Recently, Owen Tucker-Smith, working for the Los Angeles Times’s Washington DC bureau, reported on the erroneous disclosure of some personal information from 192,000 firearms owners. How the information was released is still under investigation, but Tucker-Smith keenly noted this rare occurrence to spur a conversation about the long-standing lack of data available for firearms research.
“California is the epicenter of American gun violence research, largely because it maintains an extensive repository of firearms data and, unlike other states, has historically made much of the data available to scientists studying the root causes of gun deaths,” he wrote. What kind of research are we talking about?
California researchers wondered whether a new state law limiting access to guns by those convicted of violent misdemeanors could lead to fewer future arrests. They found that after the policy change, those offenders had a 25% lower subsequent arrest rate. [Source: LA Times]
Why was a LA Times news story written from the other side of the country, so far from Capital Hill? Because in 2019, Congress authorized $25 million a year [ABC News, 2019] for gun violence research. Though a small amount compared to what researchers seek – and the first funding authorized since 1996 – the looming budget battles between Democrats and Republicans in DC may upend that line item. Another blow to developing good evidence-based gun legislation and policies.
Could enhanced firearm research have led to policies or laws that might have prevented active shooting incidents at Robb Elementary, Covenant Christian, and Michigan State University? Valuable research is part of the solution as well as the role of the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear United States v. Rahimi, a case weighing the firearms rights of people under domestic violence restraining orders.
Stay tuned for an update on the United States v. Rahimi case.
