How Do Experts Suggest Reducing Gun Violence?

October 14, 2021

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How Do Experts Suggest Reducing Gun Violence?

Gun violence in the U.S. has been called an “outrage”, a “serious public health threat”, a tragedy. The U.S. has the most gun violence of any comparable nation; Americans are 25 times more likely than people from other high-income nations to die by homicide with a firearm.

Read more about the gun violence problem in the U.S. here

But Americans are also innovative and resourceful, capable of solving complex and difficult problems. Gun violence will require solutions from experts across policy, academia, education, healthcare, business, and technology. Every city will be different, and there is no one-size-fits-all playbook. 

Here are some of the most promising approaches that can and are being used to address the gun violence problem.

Policy and Regulation Around Gun Violence

We know that, while legally-registered gun owners are not typically the culprits involved in violent crime, more firearms in the hands of private citizens means more guns available to be obtained illegally — passed amongst organized street groups, stolen during residential or auto burglaries, or purchased from underground vendors.  Researchers at the University of California, Davis Violence Prevention Research Program found that the spike in firearms purchased in 2020 was associated with a statistically significant increase in gun violence. 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reports that 13,173 firearms were reported stolen in 2020 — and acknowledges that many more are not reported at all. When firearms are stolen from a home or store, the ATF says that “investigative experience shows that each of those stolen firearms is almost assuredly destined for criminal use in the immediate area of the theft.” 

Many experts suggest that limited additional regulations could help lower the number of guns on the streets, thereby reducing the number available to be stolen or obtained for illicit purposes. Permits, age limitations, and training courses have all been suggested by policy and public health experts as worthy of evaluation.

Another possible solution are gun-violence restraining orders, which allow family members or law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily bar an at-risk person from buying firearms or allow police to confiscate their guns. Six states — California, Oregon, Washington, Indiana and Connecticut, and Florida — have all implemented a version of this measure. 

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