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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:48 pm
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Results for gun policy
27 results foundAuthor: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Title: RCMP Canadian Firearms Program: Program Evaluation Summary: This report presents a Strategic Evaluation of the Canadian Firearms Program (CFP), in response to a recommendation contained in the Tenth Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts1 published in December 2006 in Chapter 4 of the May 2006 Report of the Auditor General of Canada (Canadian Firearms Program (CFP)) and in accordance with the Treasury Board policy on Transfer Payments. The first section of this report includes the profile, performance measures, evaluation, and reporting plans concerning the CFP and has been updated to reflect recent administrative changes and amendments to the day to day operations of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Canadian Firearms Program in the administration of the Firearms Act and the CFP. It also addressees the Auditor General’s recommendation that the CFP develop a results chain and improve performance reporting for the Program. The scope of the strategic evaluation is limited to direct costs incurred by the CFP and RCMP partners in the administration of the CFP (see section 2.5 for a definition of direct and indirect costs). The evaluation covers the key evaluation issues of relevance, success, cost-effectiveness and implementation of the CFP. In October 2007, members of the RCMP’s National Program Evaluation Service (NPES) began conducting provincial interviews for the Canadian Firearms Program. Most of the interviews were arranged in advance and candidates were randomly selected from large groupings where possible. Two (2) opt-in provinces were visited: New Brunswick and Ontario; and three (3) opt-out: British Columbia, Alberta and the territory of Nunavut. The following key findings were summarized from interviews and open source documents. The RCMP’s National Program Evaluation Services reviewed existing literature relating to gun policy and regulatory models, with particular emphasis on public safety issues, including suicide, accidental deaths and homicide. Details: Ottawa: RCMP, 2010. 148p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 11, 2011 at: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/fire-feu-eval/eval-eng.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Canada URL: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/fire-feu-eval/eval-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 121309 Keywords: Firearms (Canada)Gun PolicyGunsHomicidesPolicingWeapons |
Author: Stachelberg, Winnie Title: Preventing Domestic Abusers and Stalkers from Accessing Guns Summary: While opinions may differ as to the scope of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, almost all Americans agree that criminals should not have access to guns. Congress recognized the need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people more than 40 years ago when it passed the Gun Control Act of 1968, which prohibited felons and other dangerous individuals from owning guns. The Supreme Court has also sanctioned restrictions on gun ownership by such individuals, repeatedly holding in recent decisions that such federal and state laws to prohibit gun ownership by criminals and other dangerous individuals are well within the bounds of the Constitution. One group of people who are at a heightened risk of gun attacks is women who are targets of domestic violence and stalking. We know that intimate-partner violence is a pernicious crime that affects millions of women across the country. Women are more than three-and-a-half times as likely to be killed by an intimate partner than men. In 2005, 40 percent of female homicide victims nationwide were killed by a current or former intimate partner, and guns were used in more than half of those murders. The lethality of domestic-violence incidents—and therefore the risk to women—increases exponentially when a firearm is present in the home: Having a gun in the home increases the risk of homicide of an intimate partner by eight times compared to households without guns. This risk of homicide increases by 20 times compared to households without guns when there is a history of domestic violence in the family. Congress has previously recognized the unique dangers posed by domestic abusers with guns. In the mid-1990s it enacted legislation to ban domestic-violence misdemeanants and individuals subject to some domestic-violence restraining orders from buying or possessing guns. But the current laws do not go far enough to protect women from the dangers presented by batterers and stalkers with guns. Federal law that is currently designed to protect women from gun violence suffers from four key weaknesses: ◾Background checks are not required on all gun sales, so domestic abusers prohibited from gun ownership can easily circumvent the gun-ownership ban by buying a gun from a private seller. ◾The federal limits on domestic abusers are too narrow because they omit abusers in dating relationships and abusers subject to some emergency restraining orders. ◾There is no federal ban on gun ownership for stalkers convicted of misdemeanor crimes and who are subject to restraining orders. ◾Federal, state, and local authorities do not adequately enforce the laws already in place by disarming and prosecuting domestic abusers who violate the current laws and maintain possession of firearms. This report examines all of these gaps in current law and law enforcement, and cites case examples of how each gap enabled domestic abusers and stalkers to obtain the guns they used to murder women. These weaknesses in federal law and law enforcement leave untold numbers of women vulnerable to gun violence committed by men who have harassed, stalked, threatened, and terrorized them, often for years. Congress must act to close these loopholes in the law and ensure that victims of stalking and domestic violence are not further victimized, looking at the end of a gun. Details: Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2013. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 19, 2013 at: http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/GunsStalkersBrief-3.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/GunsStalkersBrief-3.pdf Shelf Number: 129636 Keywords: Abusive MenDomestic AbuseGun Control (U.S.)Gun PolicyGun ViolenceStalking |
Author: Violence Policy Center Title: Cash and Carry: How Concealed Carry Laws Drive Gun Industry Profits Summary: In the wake of the July 13, 2013 jury verdict finding George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, much of the focus has been on Florida's 2005 "Stand Your Ground" law. Regardless of the law's effect in Florida and other states that have adopted it, the stark reality is that it is Florida's lax concealed weapons law that allowed George Zimmerman to carry a black seven-shot Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm pistol in public and shoot Trayvon Martin. If Florida did not have this dangerous National Rifle Association-promoted law, Trayvon Martin would be alive today. Details: Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center,2013. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 11, 2014 at: http://www.vpc.org/studies/cashandcarry.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.vpc.org/studies/cashandcarry.pdf Shelf Number: 131852 Keywords: Concealed CarryConcealed WeaponsGun PermitsGun PolicyGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceStand Your Ground Law |
Author: Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy Title: Guns, Public Health, and Mental Illness: An Evidence-Based Approach for State Policy Summary: This report calls for strengthening current policies banning access to firearms for people with histories of involuntary treatment for mental illness. But the recommendations also offer a new "risk-based" paradigm to supercede the long-established model of gun rights restrictions focused on mental health. The report calls for temporary restrictions of up to five years on the purchase and possession of firearms by individuals convicted of violent misdemeanors, domestic violence, or more than one drug or alcohol conviction within a certain period - all of which are behaviors that demonstrate an elevated risk of violence, even when not accompanied by a record of mental illness, according to research cited in the report. Details: Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy, 2013. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 23, 2014 at: http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy-and-research/publications/GPHMI-State.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy-and-research/publications/GPHMI-State.pdf Shelf Number: 132146 Keywords: Firearms and CrimeGun ControlGun PolicyGun ViolenceMentally Ill |
Author: Sanchez, Arabeska Title: Firearms and Violence in Honduras Summary: More than 42,000 people have been violently killed in Honduras over the past nine years. In 80 per cent of cases the weapon used was a firearm. To explain this, analysts and the media point randomly to the political instability and polarization of the country, the level of corruption in the police and state institutions, and the climate of terror created by gangs and organized crime. Comprehensive solutions based on solid empirical evidence, however, are not yet available. This Research Note is based on a scoping assessment of armed violence in Honduras. It summarizes and briefly unpacks specific characteristics of armed violence in the country and explores some of the key questions that need to be asked. As such, it provides a basis on which work and research can draw to design responses to Honduras's challenges by answering the following questions: What kind of knowledge is needed to tackle the spiralling violence in Honduras? How can actors be mobilized more effectively to influence policy responses to violence? Details: Geneva, SWIT: Small Arms Survey, 2014. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Notes No. 39: Accessed May 12, 2014 at: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/H-Research_Notes/SAS-Research-Note-39.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Honduras URL: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/H-Research_Notes/SAS-Research-Note-39.pdf Shelf Number: 132338 Keywords: Crime StatisticsGun PolicyGun-Related ViolenceHomicides (Honduras)ViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Gerney, Arkadi Title: The Gun Debate 1 Year After Newtown: Assessing Six Key Claims About Gun Background Checks Summary: The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012, reignited the debate on whether to strengthen federal and state gun laws. Soon after the massacre, the top priority for advocates for stronger gun laws became broadening background checks to apply to all gun sales. Under current federal law, vendors in the business of selling guns must get a license, conduct background checks, and keep records. But unlicensed "private" sellers-persons who maintain they sell only occasionally at gun shows, online, or anywhere else-are able to sell guns with no questions asked. In some ways, the debate's emphasis on the universal background checks proposal was surprising-after all, the Newtown shooter would not have been subject to federal prohibitions, other than the one that blocks handgun sales to persons under 21, and background checks were only tangentially related to the shooting. The ascendance of background checks as the primary policy proposal to combat gun violence reflects a shift in gun-reform advocates' strategy from tightening regulations on guns themselves to strengthening laws that keep guns away from dangerous people. The shift had already begun before Newtown; after, it only accelerated. Both policy research and political realities informed this shift in priorities. As a policy matter, most research suggests that making it more difficult for dangerous people to acquire guns will have a significant impact in reducing the more than 30,000 gun deaths that happen every year in America. As a political matter, polling conducted before and after Newtown show that 80 percent to 90 percent of Americans support expanding background checks, including most gun owners. As the debate over the universal background checks proposal heated up before the Senate voted on the matter in April, discussion of the substantive benefits of this policy proposal was mostly lost in the fray. The background checks debate far too often devolved into sound bites, which gave rise to a number of widespread misunderstandings about the universal background checks proposal and its potential effects on gun violence in the United States. In this issue brief, we assess six key claims that have been made about background checks in the past year: 1.40 percent of gun sales occur without a background check. 2.Few criminals visit gun shows to acquire guns illegally. 3.Universal background checks will not work because criminals will not submit to them. 4.Efforts to prevent gun violence should focus on straw purchasing from gun dealers, not gun transfers among unlicensed buyers and sellers. 5.We should not enact new laws on background checks until the federal government starts prosecuting violations of the current laws. 6.Universal background checks would harm gun dealers. Some of the claims are true, some are false, and some fall in the middle. But all of these common talking points, whether for or against background checks, have become divorced from their context, making them difficult to understand. Our goal in the pages that follow is to assess each of these six key claims regarding the proposal to require background checks for all gun sales in order to provide a deeper analysis and contextualize the claims. Details: Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2013. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 18, 2015 at: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/BackgroundChecks.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/BackgroundChecks.pdf Shelf Number: 134963 Keywords: Gun ControlGun PolicyGun ViolenceGun-Related Violence |
Author: Gleason, Diana Title: 2015 Update: Can I Bring My Gun? A Fifty State Survey of Firearm Laws Impacting Policies Prohibiting Handguns in Public Libraries Summary: In Capital Area District Library v. Michigan Open Carry, 826 N.W. 2d 736 (2012), the Michigan Court of Appeals concluded that state law preempted the library's weapons policy prohibiting firearms in the library. My article, Can I Bring My Gun? A Fifty State Survey of Firearm Laws Impacting Policies Prohibiting Handguns in Public Libraries,* asked how laws in each state impact similar policies prohibiting handguns in public libraries. The article warned that many states and the federal government were in the process of amending laws to increase or decrease gun restrictions, and that ongoing change could be expected. In fact, since the article was published in December, 2013, over half the states have amended or promulgated statutes impacting the issue. This update provides a more accurate baseline for following gun laws in the states and District of Columbia. Where information in the original article remains the same the text has not been changed. Details: Moscow, ID: University of Idaho College of law Library, 2015. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 21, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2605937 Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2605937 Shelf Number: 136842 Keywords: College and UniversitiesFirearmsGun ControlGun PolicySecond Amendment |
Author: American Bar Association Title: National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws: Report and Recommendations Summary: In examining and reporting on the potential effects Stand Your Ground laws may have on public safety, individual liberties, and the criminal justice system, the Task Force has: 1. Examined the provisions of Stand Your Ground statutes and analyzed the potential for their misapplication and the risk of injustice from multiple perspectives, e.g., the individual's right to exercise self-defense, the victim's rights, and the rights of the criminally accused. 2. Analyzed the degree to which racial or ethnic bias impacts Stand Your Ground laws. Particular attention was paid to the role of implicit bias. First, the analysis focuses on how implicit bias may impact the perception of a deadly threat as well as the ultimate use of deadly force. Second, it looks at how implicit bias impacts the investigation, prosecution, immunity, and final determination of which homicides are justified. 3. Examined the effect that the surge of new Stand Your Ground laws has on crime control objectives and public safety. 4. Reviewed law enforcement policy, administrative guidelines, statutes, and judicial rulings regarding the investigation and prosecution of Stand Your Ground cases. 5. Conducted a series of regional public hearings to learn about community awareness, perceptions of equality in enforcement and application, opinions concerning the utility of the laws, and reactions to individualized experiences involving interactions with Stand Your Ground laws. 6. Prepared a final report and recommendations. Details: Chicago: ABA, 2015. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 25, 2016 at: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/images/diversity/SYG_Report_Book.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/images/diversity/SYG_Report_Book.pdf Shelf Number: 137651 Keywords: Gun PolicyGun ViolenceHomicidesPublic SafetyRacial DisparitiesSelf DefenseStand Your Ground Laws |
Author: Manski, Charles Title: How Do Right-To-Carry Laws Affect Crime Rates? Coping With Ambiguity Using Bounded-Variation Assumptions Summary: Despite dozens of studies, research on crime in the United States has struggled to reach consensus about the impact of right-to-carry (RTC) gun laws. Empirical results are highly sensitive to seemingly minor variations in the data and model. How then should research proceed? We think that policy analysis is most useful if researchers perform inference under a spectrum of assumptions of varying identifying power, recognizing the tension between the strength of assumptions and their credibility. With this in mind, we formalize and apply a class of assumptions that flexibly restrict the degree to which policy outcomes may vary across time and space. Our bounded variation assumptions weaken in various respects the invariance assumptions commonly made by researchers who assume that certain features of treatment response are constant across space or time. Using bounded variation assumptions, we present empirical analysis of the effect of RTC laws on violent and property crimes. We allow the effects to vary across crimes, years and states. To keep the analysis manageable, we focus on drawing inferences for three states - Virginia, Maryland, and Illinois. We find there are no simple answers; empirical findings are sensitive to assumptions, and vary over crimes, years, and states. With some assumptions, the data do not reveal whether RTC laws increase or decrease the crime rate. With others, RTC laws are found to increase some crimes, decrease other crimes, and have effects that vary over time for others. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2015. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper No. 21701: Accessed March 18, 2016 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21701.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21701.pdf Shelf Number: 138332 Keywords: Gun LawsGun PolicyGun-Related ViolenceProperty CrimesRight-to-Carry |
Author: Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Title: Healing Communities in Crisis: Lifesaving Solutions to the Urban Gun Violence Epidemic Summary: Healing Communities in Crisis outlines two categories of solutions: intervention programs and policy reforms. These approaches are grounded in the insight that, in most communities, an incredibly small and identifiable population is responsible for the vast majority of gun violence. Our report highlights the following programs: - Group Violence Intervention (GVI)- In this approach to gun violence prevention, a partnership of law enforcement, community members, and service providers is assembled to meet with small groups of the most at-risk individuals in order to send a message that the shooting must stop. The program has now been replicated in a wide array of American cities, with consistently impressive results. - Cure Violence (CV) - This promising strategy treats violence like a communicable disease. The spread of violence is interrupted by employing Outreach Workers and Violence Interrupters to work directly with individuals most likely to commit or become the victims of gun violence. A community campaign is also conducted to change norms surrounding the use of violence. - Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIP) - Victims of violent injury are very likely to end up back in the hospital. This model takes advantage of a unique teachable moment by connecting violently injured youths with culturally competent case managers who are able to shepherd their clients to badly-needed social services that enable change. Our report also lays out the policy reforms most likely to decrease the supply of crime guns in impacted communities. These policies include: universal background checks, permit to purchase laws, gun trafficking regulations, and prohibitions on large capacity ammunition magazines. Details: San Francisco: Law Center to Prevention Gun Violence, 2016. 91p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2016 at: http://smartgunlaws.org/healing-communities/ Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://smartgunlaws.org/healing-communities/ Shelf Number: 139019 Keywords: Gun PolicyGun TraffickingGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceHomicidesTrafficking in WeaponsViolence Prevention |
Author: Gerney, Arkadi Title: License to Kill: How Lax Concealed Carry Laws Can Combine with Stand Your Groud Laws to Produce Deadly Summary: The shooting death of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman's subsequent acquittal have focused the nation's attention on expansive self-defense laws - so-called Stand Your Ground laws - that enable an individual to use deadly force even in situations in which lesser force would suffice or in which the individual could safely retreat to avoid further danger. Leaders from around the country, including President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, have questioned how Florida's law - which is similar to laws enacted in 21 other states-may have contributed to the circumstances that led to Martin's death. Yet the Martin case also implicates another set of laws: the state laws governing who may carry concealed firearms - the laws that put a gun in Zimmerman's hands in the first place. Under Florida law, even individuals such as Zimmerman, who have a criminal history and a record of domestic abuse, are generally entitled to a concealed carry permit, as long as they are not barred from gun possession under federal law and as long as their offense does not meet a very narrow range of additional exclusions under state law. If Zimmerman had applied for a permit in one of the many states with stronger permit requirements, his history of violence and domestic abuse would likely have disqualified him from obtaining a concealed carry permit. This case might then have had a very different outcome. Details: Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2013. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 19, 2016 at: https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/StandYrGround.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/StandYrGround.pdf Shelf Number: 130127 Keywords: Concealed Carry LawsDeadly ForceGun ControlGun PolicyGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceStand Your Ground Laws |
Author: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division Title: Audit of the Handling of Firearms Purchase Denials Through the National Instant Criminal Background Check Systems Summary: The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is used by Federal Firearms Licensees, importers, and manufacturers (collectively, "dealers") to determine whether a prospective purchaser is legally prohibited from doing so. The process begins when the person provides a dealer with photo identification and a completed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Form 4473. The form asks questions corresponding to the categories of persons prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms. Providing false information is a federal crime. If a prospective purchaser answers "yes" to any questions, the sale must be denied. Otherwise, the dealer generally must request a NICS check from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or their state point of contact. The transfer can occur only if the check does not identify prohibitive criteria, or if it takes more than 3 business days. If 3 business days pass without a determination that the transaction can be approved or must be denied, the dealer can either complete the sale (unless prohibited by local law) or wait for the check to be performed. For approved transactions, identifying information about the purchaser and firearm is purged from NICS within 24 hours pursuant to federal law. For denied transactions, the FBI sends relevant information to ATF's Denial Enforcement and NICS Intelligence (DENI) Branch for possible investigation. For a "delayed denial," where a firearm transfer to a prohibited purchaser occurred because the check took more than 3 business days to complete, ATF is charged with recovering the firearm. Additionally, ATF consults with U.S. Attorneys' Offices (USAO) to decide whether to refer for possible prosecution denial cases that it believes have prosecutorial merit. The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) undertook this audit to examine (1) the effectiveness of the FBI's quality control processes for NICS transactions, the impact of state reporting and recording on FBI NICS determinations, and the FBI's referral of denied NICS transactions to ATF; (2) ATF's initial screening and referral of denied transactions to its field offices for investigation, and ATF field offices' investigation of denied transactions; and (3) the USAOs' prosecution of crimes associated with denials. Details: Washington, DC: DOJ, 2016. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Audit Division 16-32: Accessed September 30, 2016 at: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/a1632.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/a1632.pdf Shelf Number: 140527 Keywords: Background CheckCriminal BackgroundsFirearmsGun ControlGun Policy |
Author: Depew, Briggs Title: The Decision to Carry: The Effect of Crime on Concealed-Carry Applications Summary: Despite contentious debate on the role of concealed-carry legislation in the U.S., little is known about individual decisions to legally carry concealed handguns in public. Using data on concealed-carry permit applications from 1998 to 2012, we explore the degree to which individuals respond to crime by applying for permits to legally carry concealed firearms. We find that recent homicide incidents increase concealed-carry applications in areas relatively near to the event. Our main results suggest that an additional homicide in relatively small cities increases applications by 26 percent over the following two months. We also find effects in larger cities when using neighborhood-level data.Our data allow us to explore specific circumstances of crime incidents and the characteristics of responsive applicants. Our results show that gun-related homicides are particularly relevant and that whites and males are most responsive to homicide incidents. We also find evidence that individuals are more responsive to homicide incidents when they share a common characteristic with the victim, particularly for female applicants. Details: Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 2016. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper No. 10236: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2846327 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2846327 Shelf Number: 147822 Keywords: Concealed CarryGun ControlGun PolicyRight to Carry |
Author: Cramer, Clayton E. Title: Texas' Stand Your Ground Law: An Historical Perspective Summary: In the aftermath of the Treyvon Martin shooting in Florida, Stand Your Ground laws have acquired an unsavory reputation. These laws and their close cousin, castle doctrine, have an interesting history, especially with respect to protecting victims of domestic violence. Texas' Stand Your Ground law differs substantially from that of Florida, with much greater restraints on use of deadly force. Details: Presenting at Texas Bar Association CLE, Austin, September 2016 , 2016. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 10, 2016 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2781099 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2781099 Shelf Number: 146678 Keywords: Gun Policy Gun Violence Homicides Public SafetySelf Defense Stand Your Ground Law |
Author: Lott, John R., Jr. Title: Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United States: 2016 Summary: During President Obama's administration, the number of concealed handgun permits has soared to over 14.5 million - a 215% increase since 2007. Among the findings of our report: - The increase in the number of concealed handgun permits last year set another record, increasing by 1.73 million. That is slightly greater than previous record of 1.69 million set the last year. - 6.06% of the total adult population has a permit. - In ten states, more than 10% of adults have concealed handgun permits. Indiana has the highest rate - 15%. South Dakota is close behind with 14.7%. - Florida, Pennsylvania, and Texas each have over a million residents who are active permit holders. - In another 11 states, a permit is no longer required to carry in all or virtually all of the state. Thus the growth in permits does not provide a full picture of the overall increase in concealed carry. - Between 2012 and 2016, in states that provide data by gender, the number of women with permits has increased twice as quickly as the number of men with permits. - Some evidence suggests that permit-holding is increasing about 75% more quickly among minorities than among whites. - Between 2007 and 2015, murder rates fell from 5.6 to 4.7 (preliminary estimate) per 100,000. This represents a 16% drop. Overall violent crime fell by 18 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of adults with permits has soared by 190%. Details: s.l.: Crime Prevention Research Center, 2016. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 21, 2017 at; https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2814691 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2814691 Shelf Number: 144542 Keywords: Concealed CarryConcealed HandgunsGun PermitsGun PolicyGun-Related Violence |
Author: Parker, Kim Title: America's Complex Relationship With Guns An in-depth look at the attitudes and experiences of U.S. adults Summary: As a nation, the U.S. has a deep and enduring connection to guns. Integrated into the fabric of American society since the country's earliest days, guns remain a point of pride for many Americans. Whether for hunting, sport shooting or personal protection, most gun owners count the right to bear arms as central to their freedom. At the same time, the results of gun-related violence have shaken the nation, and debates over gun policy remain sharply polarized. A new Pew Research Center survey attempts to better understand the complex relationship Americans have with guns and how that relationship intersects with their policy views. The survey finds that Americans have broad exposure to guns, whether they personally own one or not. At least two-thirds have lived in a household with a gun at some point in their lives. And roughly seven-in-ten - including 55% of those who have never personally owned a gun - say they have fired a gun at some point. Today, three-in-ten U.S. adults say they own a gun, and an additional 36% say that while they don't own one now, they might be open to owning a gun in the future. A third of adults say they don't currently own a gun and can't see themselves ever doing so. To be sure, experiences with guns aren't always positive: 44% of U.S. adults say they personally know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally, and about a quarter (23%) say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun. Half see gun violence as a very big problem in the U.S. today, although gun owners and non-owners offer divergent views on this. Gun owners and non-owners are also deeply divided on several gun policy proposals, but there is agreement on some restrictions, such as preventing those with mental illnesses and those on federal watch lists from buying guns. Among gun owners, there is a diversity of views on gun policy, driven in large part by party affiliation. Details: Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2017. 79p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 23, 2017 at: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/ Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/ Shelf Number: 146352 Keywords: Gun OwnershipGun PolicyGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceGuns |
Author: Edwards, Griffin Title: Looking Down the Barrel of a Loaded Gun: The Effect of Mandatory Handgun Purchase Delays on Homicide and Suicide Summary: The effects of policies aimed to restrict firearm ownership and usage is a heavily debated topic in modern social science research. While much of the debate has focused on right-to-carry laws, less research has focused on other policies which affect firearm ownership and use, in particular statutory delays between the purchase and delivery of a firearm. In addition to the 1994 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which placed a mandatory five-day wait period between the purchase and delivery of a handgun, many states enacted similar policies before and after Brady's effective years. We exploit within-state variation across time in both the existence of a purchase delay and length of the delay to examine the effect of purchase delays on firearm-related homicides and suicides. We find that the existence of a purchase delay reduces firearm related suicides by around 3 percent, with no statistical evidence of a substitution towards non-firearm suicides. We find no evidence that purchase delays are associated with statistically significant changes in homicide rates. Details: Birmingham, AL: University of Alabama, 2016. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: U of Alabama Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2629397: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2629397 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2629397 Shelf Number: 146372 Keywords: Gun ControlGun PolicyGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceHomicidesSuicide |
Author: Alpers, Philip Title: Firearm Legislation in Australia 21 Years After the National Firearms Agreement Summary: Four consecutive formal reports have now found that no Australian State or Territory has at any stage fully complied with the 1996 or 2002 firearm resolutions which collectively formed the National Firearms Agreement. In important areas, State and Territory legislation has been blocked or revised to dilute the effect of the NFA. This report, commissioned and funded by Gun Control Australia, finds that on balance, both non-compliance from day one and two decades of political pressure have steadily reduced restrictions and undermined the NFA's original intent. Details: s.l.: Gun.Policy.Org, 2017. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 9, 2017 at: http://www.gunpolicy.org/documents/6936-firearm-legislation-in-australia-21-years-after-the-national-firearms-agreement/file Year: 2017 Country: Australia URL: http://www.gunpolicy.org/documents/6936-firearm-legislation-in-australia-21-years-after-the-national-firearms-agreement/file Shelf Number: 147615 Keywords: FirearmsGun PolicyGun-Related ViolenceGuns |
Author: Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Title: Keeping Illegal Guns Out of Dangerous Hands: America's Deadly Relinquishment Gap Summary: Americans overwhelmingly agree that it's common sense to prevent dangerous people from accessing deadly weapons-yet there's a dangerous gap in our laws that makes it easy for armed felons and violent criminals to illegally keep their guns after they're convicted. In our new report, Keeping Illegal Guns Out of Dangerous Hands: America's Deadly Relinquishment Gap, we researched relinquishment laws in all 50 states and identified a series of best practices lawmakers can adopt to save lives from gun violence and close this deadly loophole. An essential step to keeping Americans safe from gun violence is to ensure that armed individuals convicted of serious crimes simply turn in, sell, or otherwise rid themselves of their weapons after conviction. In California, law enforcement reported that in 2014 alone, more than 3,200 people illegally kept their guns after a new criminal conviction, many of whom went on to commit crimes with those guns. Relinquishment laws would help prevent this. California, which has the most progressive gun violence prevention laws in the nation, has acted to close this gap in one important way-the state has enacted a law that lays out clear, mandatory procedures for the relinquishment of guns by domestic abusers under a restraining order. Importantly, this law has teeth: it requires these abusers to provide receipts to a judge verifying that they sold or transferred their guns as required. But, the state hasn't extended this best practice to the criminal context, even for people convicted of domestic abuse crimes. Our research on gun relinquishment also revealed: States often rely on the honor system to manage the relinquishment process, trusting violent criminals and other prohibited people to voluntarily turn in their weapons. It costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year - $285 million in California alone-when prohibited people like violent felons are picked up on weapons charges and subsequently incarcerated, and many return to prison because they kept their guns illegally. Only five states provide any statutory process for disarming people prohibited from having guns-Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania The firearm relinquishment gap puts Americans in all 50 states at grave risk. Keeping Illegal Guns Out of Dangerous Hands aims to address the challenge of relinquishment and to encourage lawmakers to establish best practices and mandatory procedures to stem the tide of illegal weapons in our communities. We hope this report will help provide a path to effective gun violence prevention for lawmakers, so fewer Americans fall victim to heartbreaking, preventable shootings. Details: San Francisco: The Center, 2016. 85p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 23, 2018 at: http://lawcenter.giffords.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Keeping-Guns-Out-of-Dangerous-Hands.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://lawcenter.giffords.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Keeping-Guns-Out-of-Dangerous-Hands.pdf Shelf Number: 148909 Keywords: Gun Control PolicyGun PolicyGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceGunsIllegal Guns |
Author: Parsons, Chelsea Title: Beyond Our Borders: How Weak U.S. Gun Laws Contribute to Violent Crime Abroad Summary: From the earliest days of his presidential campaign, a constant refrain from Donald Trump has been the need to protect the United States from foreign threats, particularly violent crime that he falsely asserts is committed at high rates by immigrants to this country. The Trump administration's protectionist, isolationist, nativist, and racist immigration policy is founded on the scurrilous notion that the United States needs to close the borders and restrict immigration to the country as a way to protect against the entry of violent crime. However, often overlooked in this debate is the degree to which exportation of violence goes in the other direction-that is to say, from the United States to other countries-and, in particular, the substantial U.S. role in providing guns that are used in lethal violence in other nations. From 2014 to 2016, across 15 countries in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, 50,133 guns that originated in the United States were recovered as part of criminal investigations. Put another way, during this span, U.S.-sourced guns were used to commit crimes in nearby countries approximately once every 31 minutes. Certainly, many of these U.S.-sourced crime guns were legally exported and were not diverted for criminal use until they crossed the border. The United States is a major manufacturer and a leading exporter of firearms, legally exporting an average of 298,000 guns each year. However, many of the same gaps and weaknesses in U.S. gun laws that contribute to illegal gun trafficking domestically likewise contribute to the illegal trafficking of guns from the United States to nearby nations. This report discusses the scope of the problem of U.S. guns being trafficked abroad and used in the commission of violent crimes in other nations. For example, in 2015, a trafficking ring bought more than 100 guns via straw purchases in the Rio Grande Valley of the United States and smuggled them to Mexico. At least 14 of these firearms were recovered in Mexico. In addition, this report identifies a number of policy solutions that would help to reduce the flow of crime guns abroad and begin to minimize the U.S. role in arming lethal violence in nearby countries. These recommendations include: Instituting universal background checks for gun purchases; Making gun trafficking and straw purchasing federal crimes; Requiring the reporting of multiple sales of long guns; Increasing access to international gun trafficking data; Rejecting efforts that weaken firearm export oversight. The United States has a moral obligation to mitigate its role in arming lethal violence abroad. While there are many factors unique to each nation that affect rates of violent crime, there is more the United States could do to reduce the risks posed by U.S.-sourced guns that cross the border and are used in crime in nearby countries. Details: Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2018. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 6, 2018 at: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2018/01/31115010/012918_BeyondOurBorders-report-51.pdf Year: 2018 Country: International URL: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2018/01/31115010/012918_BeyondOurBorders-report-51.pdf Shelf Number: 148995 Keywords: Gun ControlGun EnforcementGun PolicyGun TraffickingGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceTrafficking in Weapons |
Author: Steidley, Trent Title: Movement, Malefactions, and Munitions: Determinants and Effects of Concealed Carry Laws in the United States Summary: Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) laws regulate the issuing of licenses for legal concealed firearm carrying in a state. In 1980, only four states had "shall-issue" CCW laws which broadly allowed people to receive CCW licenses, but by 2010 thirty-eight states had "shall-issue" laws. While scholars have debated the efficacy of CCW laws to reduce violent crime rates, little attention has been given to why these laws become prolific. At the same time, few have explored how CCW laws matter for outcomes other than violent crime. Using original legal research on CCW laws in all fifty states this dissertation explores both the political and criminological determinates of CCW laws and how these laws have affected handgun demand over time. In the first part of this dissertation, I draw on social movement theories to explore the political and social movement determinants of CCW laws and advance knowledge about how social movements can create policy change. Social movement organizations (SMOs) often target policies to influence changes in society. But policy changes may actually be the result of public opinion, political opportunities or other factors; creating a spurious relationship between SMO activity and such outcomes. Interestingly, the power of the National Rifle Association (NRA) is often assumed but seldom tested. Using the case of CCW laws this dissertation assesses NRA influence on state-level firearm policy outcomes. Using event-history analyses I find the NRA does influence CCW laws, but its effect is mediated by public opinion, political ideologies, competitive elections, and political opportunities The second part of this dissertation draws on criminological theories to explore how CCW laws are a potential state response to crime rather than an effort to prevent or control crime. Previous research on firearm policies suggests that states regularly implement policies that restrict gun rights in order to provide better collective security for citizens. However, CCW laws represent a departure from collective security as they endorse qualified citizens to carry firearms and use lethal force on their volition to prevent crime. Drawing on Garland's (2001) arguments for "the new criminologies of everyday life," I argue that CCW laws are a state effort to regulate firearm carrying as a form of self-help for crime protection that is still regulated by the states. Following that argument, I anticipate that states with higher crime rates and lower capacities for law enforcement should be more likely to enact CCW laws. Results from event-history analyses indicate support for this argument. In the third part of this dissertation, I explore how CCW laws have impacted handgun demand at the state-level from 1999 to 2013. Using the number background checks conducted pursuant to a handgun sale as a proxy for handgun demand, I conduct interrupted time-series analyses using CCW law changes in Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Results indicate downward trajectories of handgun demand are reversed once a CCW law is adopted. While CCW laws increase handgun demand over time in every state except Minnesota, the immediate effect on handgun demand is more mixed. Some states experience a spike in handgun demand immediately after a law is adopted, but others do not. The final chapter the dissertation offers concluding remarks regarding research on gun laws in the United States and how these studies contribute to that literature Details: Columbus, OH: Ohio State University, 2016. 203p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed March 27, 2018 at: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1466007307&disposition=inline Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1466007307&disposition=inline Shelf Number: 149581 Keywords: Concealed CarryConcealed HandgunsGun PermitsGun PolicyGun-Related Violence |
Author: Jacobs, James B. Title: The Potential and Limitations of Universal Background Checking for Gun Purchasers Summary: Current federal law defies logic in requiring that only purchasers who buy from federally licensed sellers be subject to background checking. Thus, universal background checking is frequently proposed as the best and most important form of "sensible gun control". Upon closer inspection, however, universal background checking would be harder to implement and enforce than proponents recognize. Moreover, the likely payoff in reduction of gun homicides, crimes and suicides would be less than what is often assumed. This Article closely examines universal background checking in theory and practice, including the Manchin-Toomey Amendment which Congress rejected in 2013 but which continues to be reintroduced. Details: New York: New York University School of Law, 2017. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: New York University Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers; accessed April 19, 2018 at: http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1590&context=nyu_plltwp Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1590&context=nyu_plltwp Shelf Number: 149851 Keywords: Background ChecksGun ControlGun PolicyGuns |
Author: Fields, Shawn E. Title: Stop and Frisk in a Concealed Carry World Summary: This Article confronts the growing tension between increasingly permissive concealed carry firearms legislation and police authority to conduct investigative stops and protective frisks under Terry v. Ohio. For decades, courts upheld stops based on nothing more than an officer's observation of public gun possession, on the assumption that anyone carrying a gun in public was doing so unlawfully. That assumption requires reexamination. All fifty states and the District of Columbia authorize their citizens to carry concealed weapons in public, and forty-two states impose little or no conditions on the exercise of this privilege. As a result, officers and courts can no longer reasonably assume that "public gun possession" equals "criminal activity." Courts and scholars have begun addressing discrete aspects of this dilemma, and this Article makes four contributions to the existing literature. First, it corrects the oft-repeated misconception that the Supreme Court's recent Second Amendment jurisprudence has altered the Fourth Amendment's reasonable suspicion standard. Second, it articulates the need for a "gun possession plus" reasonable suspicion standard to initiate a Terry stop for a suspected firearms violation. Third, it defends the right of officers to conduct automatic frisks of suspects after a lawfully-initiated stop when firearms are present, in recognition of the inherent and unique dangerousness of these weapons. Fourth, it justifies this adaptation of "reasonable suspicion" with reference to traditional risk-assessment tort principles, including the Hand Formula. In doing so, the Article seeks a balanced and defensible approach to assessing law enforcement interactions with lawfully-armed civilians in the age of concealed carry. Details: San Diego: University of San Diego, School of law, 2018. Source: Internet Resource: Research Paper No. 18-339: Accessed May 8, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3156692 Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3156692 Shelf Number: 150102 Keywords: Concealed CarryConcealed HandgunsFourth AmendmentGun PermitsGun PolicyStop and Frisk |
Author: Weisser, Michael Title: Where are all the Guns? Summary: A detailed analysis of background check data correlated with gun-violence rates and gun laws for all 50 states. Paper shows that gun-violence rates may correlate more positively with gun ownership rates than with the strength of gun regulations. Paper also covers relevant bibliography. Details: Unpublished paper, 2018. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 9, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3167983 Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3167983 Shelf Number: 150124 Keywords: Crime RatesCriminal Background ChecksGun PolicyGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceHomicidesRight to CarryViolent Crime |
Author: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Title: Protecting the Next Generation: Strategies to Keep America's Kids Safe from Gun Violence Summary: The courageous young survivors of the horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida, have collectively raised their voices and declared that it is time for action-they are calling for gun safety laws proven to save lives from this uniquely American epidemic. No child-in any community-should live in fear of a shooting at their school or in their community. No child should live with the memory of their classmates' deaths. There are simple steps we can take to protect our kids and our communities from gun violence. KIDS AND FIREARMS KEY NUMBERS US children and teens are 17 times more likely to die from gun violence than their peers in other high-income countries. Studies show at least 40% of children in high-violence urban areas have witnessed a shooting. Nearly 60% of high schoolers report concerns about a potential mass shooting in their school or community. Since 1998, nearly 200,000 minors have been shot-a staggering toll-and another 187,000 have experienced a shooting in their schools. Among 14-17 year-olds, 17% have been exposed to gun violence. Shootings Cause Lasting Trauma - Children who survive shootings develop post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and fearfulness, and can experience long-term decreases in academic achievement. One study found a 6% decrease in 9th-grade enrollment at schools that had experienced a deadly shooting. Violence Interferes with Education - Two-thirds of school districts now require schools to conduct active-shooter drills, with kids as young as two participating. These drills, and other costly security measures, can divert funds and time that are needed for education and create a culture of anxiety. Details: San Francisco: The Authors, 2018. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2019 at: https://lawcenter.giffords.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Giffords-Law-Center-Protecting-the-Next-Generation-7.19.18.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://lawcenter.giffords.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Giffords-Law-Center-Protecting-the-Next-Generation-7.19.18.pdf Shelf Number: 154483 Keywords: Gun PolicyGun ViolenceGun-Related ViolenceSchool ShootingsViolence Prevention |
Author: Bryant, Robin Title: Risk Management in relation to Firearms Licensing Summary: Our primary conclusion is that a structured professional judgement should continue to form the basis for risk assessment and decision-making for shotgun and firearms licencing by MPS Firearms Enquiry Officers (FEOs) and their managers. The preparatory desk-bound study we undertook for this report, and our own empirical research using interviews with FEOs and their managers, together with the collection and analysis of data all support this conclusion. The MPS assesses the risk posed by granting or renewing an individual's shotgun and/or firearm Certificate in robust, fair and clear ways, consistent with legal and national requirements and which follow the guidance of the Home Office, College of Policing and others. None-the-less, assessing risk, in the sense of estimating the likelihood of an individual posing a threat in the future, is a challenging undertaking, made particularly difficult in the context of firearms licensing by the ambiguities inherent in the law and in national policy. Our research leads us to suggest that risk assessment and decision-making by FET (SCO19) could be further improved in the following ways. Recommendation 1 - Develop additional forms of risk assessment based on threats (as an aid to structured professional judgement) Recommendation 2 - Increase cooperation with other non-police agencies to share good practice Recommendation 3 - Enhance FEO training and staff development to aid structured professional judgement Recommendation 4 - Develop further the risk assessment of 'reasons to own', the security of the shotgun/firearm, particular occupational groups and during the whole of the five-year period of licencing Recommendation 5 - Maintain and enhance the home visit for initial applicants Recommendation 6 - Further develop the MPS Vulnerability Assessment Frame (VAF) for use by FEOs as part of their structured professional judgement Recommendation 7 - Adapt FEO and other licencing documentation to better support structured professional judgement Recommendation 8 - If 'risk matrices' are employed by the MPS then these should be used to challenge risk assessments, but not as a basis for structured professional judgement Recommendation 9 - Support the development of future FEO decision-making that utilises the analysis of data Details: Canterbury: Canterbury Centre for Policing Research, Canterbury Christ Church University, 2017. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed march 27, 2019 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320879541_Risk_Management_in_relation_to_Firearms_Licensing Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320879541_Risk_Management_in_relation_to_Firearms_Licensing Shelf Number: 155186 Keywords: Firearms LicensesGun PolicyGun RegulationRisk Assessment |
Author: Browne, Bill Title: Point Blank: Political strategies of Australia's gun lobby Summary: The Australian public supports stronger gun control and stricter restrictions and laws on firearms. Despite this, there is a real danger of our firearm laws being watered down. Successive inquiries have found that no state or territory has ever fully complied with the National Firearms Agreement. The public will on firearms is being circumvented because firearms interest groups have made a concerted effort to undermine these laws and loosen state-level gun controls. These groups include firearms suppliers and their peak bodies, members' associations like shooting and hunting clubs, and gun advocates who operate more informally. Either operating independently or together, these organisations have made significant political donations, run campaigns to influence voters and encouraged the election of pro-gun cross-benchers. The Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA), the peak body for Australia's five largest firearms suppliers, spends roughly the same amount of money, again as a share of population, on political campaigning as the National Rifle Association (the NRA) does in the United States. The Australian gun lobby runs political campaigns and lobbies politicians and journalists, but it attracts little attention in Australia because it keeps its operations low key. Gun lobby political advertising in recent years has mostly avoided mentioning firearms or gun control at all. Australians are probably more familiar with the NRA than Australia's equivalents, even though relative to population Australia's gun lobby is of a similar size and funding to the NRA. This report provides an account of the political strategies of the gun lobby. Details: Manuka, ACT: The Australia Institute, 2019. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion paper: Accessed March 27, 2019 at: http://www.tai.org.au/sites/default/files/P598%20Point%20blank%20%5BWeb%5D.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Australia URL: http://www.tai.org.au/sites/default/files/P598%20Point%20blank%20%5BWeb%5D.pdf Shelf Number: 155190 Keywords: FirearmsGun ControlGun Policy |