Support evidence-based policy

SAFE strongly supports evidence-based policy THAT PROMOTEs RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERSHIP while respecting the second amendment. to decrease the devastating loss of life attributable to firearm injuries, we urge policy-makers to ENACT AND enforce: 

  • universal Background Checks (1,2, 17)

  • a standardized, mandatory waiting period for all firearm purchases (3,4) 

  • a Screening prior to purchase for risk factors of firearm violence such as individuals with:

    • substance abuse disorders (5)

    • suicidal ideation (4)

    • known mental illness (6) 

    • Dementia (7, 8)

  • comprehensive policy that prevents intimate partner violence felons from obtaining or possessing firearms (9, 10) 

    • Expand the Lautenberg Amendment to include abusers of non-spouse partners & family members, convicted stalkers 

    • Mandate states to report all domestic and intimate partner violence felonies 

    • Require the surrender of all firearms and ammunition once convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor 

  • mandatory reporting of loss or theft of firearms (11)

  • additional education for gun owners in homes with children (1, 12) 

  • a minimum safe gun storage requirement (1, 13, 14, 15)

  • THE Re-implementation of concealed carry laws (9) 

  • responsible firearms sales practices (16)

  • Elongation of sentences for assault or robbery with a firearm, rather than a less lethal weapon (9) 


Sources

(1) Morral, A. R. et al. The Science of Gun Policy. (2018). Available at: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2088.html. (Accessed: 16th July 2018)

Implementation of background checks has been shown to reduce firearm suicides and homicides.
Child-access prevention laws have demonstrated reductions in self-inflicted fatal or nonfatal firearm injuries amongst youth.

(2) Vittes, Katherine, John Vernick and Daniel Webster. "Legal status and source of offenders' stringent criteria for gun ownership."

96.1% of incarcerated individuals acquired guns through a supplier that did not require a background check to be run. 

(3) Policy, -Shawn Hamilton- New Books in Public. Reducing Gun Violence in America. (2014).

Mandatory waiting periods on handgun purchases have been shown to reduce gun homicides by approximately 17%. 

(4) Yip, Paul SF, et al. "Means restriction for suicide prevention." The Lancet 379.9834 (2012): 2393-2399.

Removing lethal means of suicide such as firearms in times of crisis has been shown to decrease the number of suicide deaths. Preventing acquisition in these sensitive moments is crucial.

(5) Martin-Storey, Alexa, Kate C. Prickett, and Robert Crosnoe. "Alcohol use and change over time in firearm safety among families with young children." Drug and alcohol dependence186 (2018): 187-192.

(6) Hsieh, Jason K., et al. "Firearms among cognitively impaired persons: a cross-sectional study." Annals of internal medicine 163.6 (2015): 485-487.

(7) Spangenberg, Karen B., et al. "Firearm presence in households of patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 47.10 (1999): 1183-1186.

(8) Wand, Anne P. F., et al. "Firearms, mental illness, dementia and the clinician." The Medical Journal of Australia 201.11 (2014): 674-678.

(9) Cook, Philip J., and John J. Donohue. "Saving lives by regulating guns: Evidence for policy." Science 358.6368 (2017): 1259-1261.Saving lives by regulating guns: Evidence for policy | Science. Available at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6368/1259.full. (Accessed: 16th July 2018)

Gun murders of females by intimate partners dropped 17% after disqualifying domestic violence felons from obtaining or possessing firearms (Lautenberg Amendment, 1996) 
Elongation of sentences for assault or robbery with a gun rather than a less lethal weapon: these additional sentence lengths, where implemented, have resulted in 5% decrease in gun robbery rates.

(10) Zeoli, April and Daniel Webster. "Effects of Domestic Violence Policies, Alcohol Taxes and Police Staffing Levels on Intimate Partner Homicide in Large U.S. Cities." Injury Prevention 16(2) (2010): 90-95. 

Firearm Intimate Partner Homicide risk dropped 25% after implementation of state laws that restricted access to firearms to those with domestic violence restraining orders

(11) Fabio, Anthony et. al. "Gaps continue in firearm surveillance: Evidence from a large U.S. City Bureau of Police." Social Medicine 10.1 (20160): 13-21. 

79% of gun crime perpetrators were carrying firearms owned by someone else. Over 30% of the guns found on crime scenes were stolen and over 40% of those stolen firearms had not been reported as stolen by the gun owners until after being contacted by the police. 

(12) Webster DW, Wilson ME, Duggan AK, et al. Parents’ beliefs about preventing gun injuries to children. Pediatrics. 1992; 89(5 Pt 1):908–914.

Parent firearm owners often have unrealistic perceptions of children’s capabilities and behavioral tendencies with regard to guns. 

(13) Grossman, David C., et al. "Gun storage practices and risk of youth suicide and unintentional firearm injuries." Jama 293.6 (2005)

Keeping gun locked and unloaded, and storing ammunition locked and in a separate location are associated with a protective effect on youth suicide and unintentional firearm injuries.

(14) Shenassa ED, Rogers ML, Spalding KL, et al. Safer storage of firearms at home and risk of suicide: a study of protective factors in a nationally representative sample. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2004;58(10):841–848.

Those who stored firearms locked or unloaded were less likely to commit suicide by firearms. 

(15) Miller, Matthew, et al. "Firearm storage practices and rates of unintentional firearm deaths in the United States." Accident Analysis & Prevention 37.4 (2005): 661-667.

A disproportionately large share of unintentional firearm fatalities occurred in states where gun owners were more likely to store their firearms loaded or unlocked. 

(16) Rosenthal, Lawrence. "The Limits of Second Amendment Originalism and the Constitutional Case for Gun Control." Wash. UL Rev. 92 (2014): 1187.

States with stricter licensing, regulation and oversight of gun dealers than federal statute have demonstrated reduced diversion of guns to criminals.

(17) Ludwig, Jens. "Reducing gun violence in America." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114.46 (2017): 12097-12099.