Summary

About

Source: Google AI “Solutions to gun violence” “Solutions to gun safetry”

Legislative Measures

• Universal background checks: Require background checks for all gun sales, including those at gun shows and online.
• Assault weapons ban: Prohibit the sale and possession of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.
• Red flag laws: Allow for the temporary removal of firearms from individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others.
• Safe storage laws: Require gun owners to store their firearms securely to prevent unauthorized access.
• Increased waiting periods: Implement longer waiting periods before a firearm can be purchased.

Public Health Approach

• Mental health support: Expand access to mental health services, especially for at-risk populations.
• Trauma-informed care: Provide trauma-informed care for individuals affected by gun violence.
• Community violence intervention programs: Invest in programs that work with at-risk communities to prevent violence.

Social and Economic Factors

• Poverty reduction: Address underlying social and economic factors that contribute to violence, such as poverty and inequality.
• Education and job training: Provide opportunities for education and job training to reduce unemployment and crime rates.
• Community development: Invest in community development initiatives to improve neighborhoods and strengthen social cohesion.

Gun Industry Regulations

• Liability: Hold gun manufacturers accountable for the harms caused by their products.
• Marketing restrictions: Limit the marketing of firearms to children and vulnerable populations.

Cultural and Behavioral Changes

• Gun safety education: Promote gun safety education and responsible gun ownership.
• Violence prevention programs: Implement violence prevention programs in schools and communities.
• Conflict resolution skills: Teach conflict resolution skills to help individuals manage disagreements peacefully.

Individual Responsibility

• Safe gun handling: Gun owners should receive proper training and education on safe gun handling and storage practices.
• Responsible gun ownership: Gun owners should take steps to prevent their firearms from being stolen or misused.
• Seeking help: Individuals struggling with mental health issues or thoughts of violence should seek professional help.

It’s important to note that these are just some potential solutions, and the effectiveness of each may vary depending on specific contexts. A combination of these approaches, along with ongoing research and data analysis, is likely necessary to address the complex issue of gun violence.

Ways to Address

Public Health Approach

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions

Step 1 – Define and monitor the problem

Researchers and policymakers need reliable data to understand the scope and complexity of gun violence. There are many different types of gun violence, and each type often requires different prevention strategies. Collecting and distributing reliable firearm data is essential to combating gun violence through a public health approach. Gun violence prevention researchers need reliable and timely data around the number of firearm fatalities and nonfatal injuries that occur in the United States each year. This data should include the demographics of the victim and shooter (if applicable), the location and time of the shooting, and the type of gun violence that occurred. Databases should classify the types of gun violence (suicides, intimate partner violence, mass shootings, interpersonal violence, police shootings, unintentional injuries) based on clearly defined and standardized definitions. This data should be made widely available and easily accessible to the general public free of charge.

Step 2 – Identify risk and protective factors

The public health approach focuses on prevention and addresses population level risk factors that lead to gun violence and protective factors that reduce gun violence. A thorough body of research has identified specific risk factors, both at the individual level and at the community and societal level, which increase the likelihood of engaging in gun violence. At an individual level, having access to guns is a risk factor for violence, increasing the likelihood that a dangerous situation will become fatal. Simply having a gun in one’s home doubles the chance of dying by homicide and increases the likelihood of suicide death by over three-fold.30 Other individual risk factors closely linked to gun violence include: a history of violent behavior, exposure to violence, and risky alcohol and drug use.31 Community level factors also increase the likelihood of gun violence. Under-resourced neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and social mobility are more likely to experience high rates of violence. These community level factors are often the result of deep structural inequities rooted in racism.32,33 Policies and programs should mitigate risk factors and promote protective factors at the individual and community levels.

Step 3 – Develop and test prevention strategies

Policymakers and practitioners must craft interventions that address the risk factors for gun violence. These interventions should be routinely tested to ensure they are effective and equitable; rigorous evaluations should be conducted on a routine basis. The foundation for effective gun violence prevention policy is a universal background check law, ensuring that each person who seeks to purchase or transfer a firearm undergoes a background check prior to purchase. Universal background checks should be supplemented by a firearm licensing system, which regulates and tracks the flow of firearms, to ensure that firearms do not make it into the hands of prohibited individuals. Building upon this, policymakers can create interventions that target behavioral risk-factors for gun violence (e.g. extreme risk laws) and they can push for policies that address community risk factors that lead to violence (e.g. investing in community based violence prevention programs). In addition to these gun violence prevention policies, there are a number of evidence-based strategies that can reduce gun violence within communities. For example, community based violence intervention programs work to de-escalate conflicts, interrupt cycles of retaliatory violence, and support those at elevated risk for violence.

Step 4 – Ensure widespread adoption of effective strategies

While it is essential to pass strong laws, it is equally important to enforce and implement these laws and to scale up evidence-based programs. Strong gun violence prevention policies are only effective if they are properly implemented and enforced in an equitable manner. A key focus of the public health approach is ensuring that these strategies are not only effective but that they also promote equity. Historically disenfranchised groups should be involved in the implementation process to ensure that public health strategies do not have unintended consequences. For example, gun violence prevention policies should be consistently evaluated to ensure that they do not stigmatize individuals living with mental illness or perpetuate the discriminatory and racist practices embedded in the criminal justice system. The public health approach includes a focus on allocating funds for implementation and evaluation of these gun violence prevention strategies at the federal, state, and local levels. Funds should be allocated to train the proper stakeholders to ensure that new policies and programs are properly adopted and achieve measurable and equitable outcomes.