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Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma firearm injury prevention statement. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open 2019; 4:e000294. [PMID: 30899800 PMCID: PMC6407542 DOI: 10.1136/tsaco-2018-000294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2018] [Accepted: 12/31/2018] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
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Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma Firearm Injury Prevention Statement. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2019; 86:168-170. [DOI: 10.1097/ta.0000000000002148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Criminal Use of Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Semiautomatic Firearms: an Updated Examination of Local and National Sources. J Urban Health 2018; 95:313-321. [PMID: 28971349 PMCID: PMC5993698 DOI: 10.1007/s11524-017-0205-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Policies restricting semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines are intended to reduce gunshot victimizations by limiting the stock of semiautomatic firearms with large ammunition capacities and other military-style features conducive to criminal use. The federal government banned such weaponry from 1994 to 2004, and a few states currently impose similar restrictions. Recent debates concerning these weapons have highlighted their use in mass shootings, but there has been little examination of their use in gun crime more generally since the expiration of the federal ban. This study investigates current levels of criminal activity with assault weapons and other high-capacity semiautomatics in the USA using several local and national data sources including the following: (1) guns recovered by police in ten large cities, (2) guns reported by police to federal authorities for investigative tracing, (3) guns used in murders of police, and (4) guns used in mass murders. Results suggest assault weapons (primarily assault-type rifles) account for 2-12% of guns used in crime in general (most estimates suggest less than 7%) and 13-16% of guns used in murders of police. Assault weapons and other high-capacity semiautomatics together generally account for 22 to 36% of crime guns, with some estimates upwards of 40% for cases involving serious violence including murders of police. Assault weapons and other high-capacity semiautomatics appear to be used in a higher share of firearm mass murders (up to 57% in total), though data on this issue are very limited. Trend analyses also indicate that high-capacity semiautomatics have grown from 33 to 112% as a share of crime guns since the expiration of the federal ban-a trend that has coincided with recent growth in shootings nationwide. Further research seems warranted on how these weapons affect injuries and deaths from gun violence and how their regulation may impact public health.
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Burris S, Ashe M, Levin D, Penn M, Larkin M. A Transdisciplinary Approach to Public Health Law: The Emerging Practice of Legal Epidemiology. Annu Rev Public Health 2015; 37:135-48. [PMID: 26667606 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032315-021841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Public health law has roots in both law and science. For more than a century, lawyers have helped develop and implement health laws; over the past 50 years, scientific evaluation of the health effects of laws and legal practices has achieved high levels of rigor and influence. We describe an emerging model of public health law that unites these two traditions. This transdisciplinary model adds scientific practices to the lawyerly functions of normative and doctrinal research, counseling, and representation. These practices include policy surveillance and empirical public health law research on the efficacy of legal interventions and the impact of laws and legal practices on health and health system operation. A transdisciplinary model of public health law, melding its legal and scientific facets, can help break down enduring cultural, disciplinary, and resource barriers that have prevented the full recognition and optimal role of law in public health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Burris
- National Program Office, Public Health Law Research Program, Beasley School of Law, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122;
| | - Marice Ashe
- ChangeLab Solutions, Oakland, California 94612;
| | - Donna Levin
- Network for Public Health Law, St. Paul, Minnesota 55105;
| | - Matthew Penn
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333;
| | - Michelle Larkin
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey 08543;
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Braga AA, Hureau DM. Strong gun laws are not enough: the need for improved enforcement of secondhand gun transfer laws in Massachusetts. Prev Med 2015; 79:37-42. [PMID: 26024852 DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2015] [Revised: 05/19/2015] [Accepted: 05/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Research suggests that an overwhelming majority of crime guns were transferred by private sellers before recovery by law enforcement. Unfortunately, most states do not regulate these transactions. This study examines whether analyses of state-level private transfer data could be used to develop interventions to reduce the supply of handguns to violent criminals. METHODS Traced Boston crime handguns first sold at Massachusetts license dealers were matched to state secondhand gun transfer data. Logistic regression and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the characteristics of recovered crime guns and in-state primary and secondary market transaction patterns. RESULTS For crime handguns with records of secondary market transactions in Massachusetts, many rapidly move from private transfer to recovery by the police. Unfortunately, important transaction data on the in-state sources of nearly 63% of recovered handguns were not readily available to law enforcement agencies. CONCLUSIONS Data on private transfers of guns could be used to prevent violent injuries by reducing criminal access. However, the passage of strong private transfer gun laws needs to be accompanied by investments in the vigorous enforcement of reporting requirements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony A Braga
- School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
| | - David M Hureau
- Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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Webster DW, Vernick JS, Bulzacchelli MT, Vittes KA. Temporal association between federal gun laws and the diversion of guns to criminals in Milwaukee. J Urban Health 2012; 89:87-97. [PMID: 22218834 PMCID: PMC3284599 DOI: 10.1007/s11524-011-9639-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
The practices of licensed gun dealers can threaten the safety of urban residents by facilitating the diversion of guns to criminals. In 2003, changes to federal law shielded gun dealers from the release of gun trace data and provided other protections to gun dealers. The 14-month period during which the dealer did not sell junk guns was associated with a 68% reduction in the diversion of guns to criminals within a year of sale by the dealer and a 43% increase in guns diverted to criminals following sales by other dealers. The laws were associated with a 203% increase in the number of guns diverted to criminals within a year of sale by the gun store, which was the focus of this study. Policies which affect gun dealer accountability appeared to influence the diversion of guns to criminals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel W Webster
- Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Zakocs RC, Earp JAL. Explaining variation in gun control policy advocacy tactics among local organizations. HEALTH EDUCATION & BEHAVIOR 2009; 30:360-74. [PMID: 19731501 DOI: 10.1177/1090198103030003009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The goal of this study was to determine how well four organizational characteristics (structure, resources, motivation, or political capacity) explained local organizations' use of a variety of advocacy tactics aimed at promoting state gun control laws. In 1998, 679 local organizations were identified as potentially active on state gun control issues; a questionnaire was mailed to each group's leader. Seventy-nine percent (n = 538) responded to the survey, with 81% (n = 207) of eligible organizations completing questionnaires. The four organizational characteristics explained approximately half the variation in local groups' use of a wide range of advocacy tactics. Organizations with stronger motivation to address the gun control issue and greater political capacity engaged in more diverse gun control advocacy tactics; the authors found organizational structure and resources unlikely to be related. Leaders of advocacy organizations should consider ways to encourage members' motivations on the issue while fostering greater capacity for political action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronda C Zakocs
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon S Vernick
- Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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Webster DW, Vernick JS, Bulzacchelli MT. Effects of a gun dealer's change in sales practices on the supply of guns to criminals. J Urban Health 2006; 83:778-87. [PMID: 16937085 PMCID: PMC2438583 DOI: 10.1007/s11524-006-9073-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Licensed gun dealers are a major conduit for gun trafficking. Prior to May 1999, a single gun store sold more than half of the guns recovered from criminals in Milwaukee, WI, shortly following retail sale. On May 10, 1999, the store stopped selling small, inexpensive handguns popular with criminals, often called "Saturday night specials." The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of this gun store's changed sales practices on criminals' acquisition of new guns. We used an interrupted time-series design with comparisons to test for changes in the number of guns that police recovered from criminals within a year of retail sale following the gun dealer's new sales policy. The dealer's changed sales policy was associated with a 96% decrease in recently sold, small, inexpensive handguns use in crime in Milwaukee, a 73% decrease in crime guns recently sold by this dealer, and a 44% decrease in the flow of all new, trafficked guns to criminals in Milwaukee. The findings demonstrate the substantial impact that a single gun store's sales practices can have on the supply of new guns to criminals. Proposed anti-gun-trafficking efforts in other cities could benefit from targeting problem retail outlets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel W Webster
- Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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Thompson A, Price JH, Dake JA, Tatchell T. Police chiefs' perceptions of the regulation of firearms. Am J Prev Med 2006; 30:305-312. [PMID: 16530617 DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2005.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2004] [Revised: 11/17/2005] [Accepted: 11/29/2005] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This national study assessed police chiefs' support for various types of firearm control measures, perceptions regarding firearms as a public health problem, and the likelihood of initiating firearm control advocacy activities. METHODS A 29-item survey instrument was developed to assess respondents' likelihood of firearm policy support, interest, exposure, involvement with firearm control advocacy, and demographic and background characteristics. The survey was sent out in spring 2005 using a three-wave mailing to a national random sample of 600 police chiefs in cities with populations greater than 25,000 in 2002 and 2003. RESULTS The majority of responding police chiefs supported 11 out of 14 proposed firearm control policies. Most police chiefs (62%) believed that the government should do everything it can to keep handguns out of the hands of criminals, even if it makes it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to purchase handguns. Police chiefs were not likely to participate in the majority of firearm control advocacy activities. The advocacy activities that police chiefs were most likely to participate in were meeting with state legislators (52%) and writing a letter to a legislator in relation to gun control (44%). CONCLUSIONS Police chiefs support several potentially important firearm control policies. This suggests the need to evaluate interventions aimed at increasing their role in shaping policy on this important public health issue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Thompson
- Department of Adult Counseling, Health, and Vocational Education, College and Graduate School of Education, Health, and Human Services, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242-001, USA.
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Hahn RA, Bilukha O, Crosby A, Fullilove MT, Liberman A, Moscicki E, Snyder S, Tuma F, Briss PA. Firearms laws and the reduction of violence: a systematic review. Am J Prev Med 2005; 28:40-71. [PMID: 15698747 DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2004.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Robert A Hahn
- Epidemiology Program Office , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Webster DW, Vernick JS, Hepburn LM. Effects of Maryland's law banning "Saturday night special" handguns on homicides. Am J Epidemiol 2002; 155:406-12. [PMID: 11867351 DOI: 10.1093/aje/155.5.406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Small, inexpensive, often poorly made handguns known as "Saturday night specials" are disproportionately involved in crime. Maryland banned the sale of Saturday night specials effective January 1, 1990. During the 2 years between the law's passage in 1988 and its effective date, legal handgun sales in Maryland were 34% higher than expected (p = 0.09). Interrupted time-series analysis of age-adjusted homicide rates for 1975-1998 with statistical controls for trends in two neighboring states, social and economic variables, and temporal patterns in Maryland's homicide rates was used to assess the effect of the law. Estimates of the Saturday night special ban effects depended on the assumption made about the timing of the law's effects. Models that assumed a delayed or gradual effect of the Saturday night special ban produced estimates indicating that firearm homicide rates were 6.8-11.5% lower than would have been expected without the Saturday night special ban (p < or =0.05). The model that assumed an immediate, constant change in response to the law showed no law effect, unless an outlier was excluded from the analysis. Excluding this outlier, the model estimated a 15% increase in firearm homicides associated with the Saturday night special ban. None of the models revealed significant law effects on nonfirearm homicides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel W Webster
- Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Rm. 593, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
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Vernick JS, Mair JS. How the law affects gun policy in the United States: law as intervention or obstacle to prevention. THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS : A JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS 2002; 30:692-704. [PMID: 12561274 DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-720x.2002.tb00436.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
In our experience, public health practitioners (rather than scholars) seeking to address a health problem often have just two very basic questions about the law: (1) how can I use the law to create new interventions, or improve existing ones, to protect the public’s health; and (2) will the law prevent me from successfully implementing certain interventions? In this way, the law is seen as either an opportunity for intervention to affect a public health problem, or an obstacle to enacting or implementing a desired intervention.In addition, because some public health practitioners may not fully understand the intricacies of a given legal area, some possible obstacles to intervention may be either real or perceived. A real legal obstacle is not necessarily an insurmountable one, but it does have genuine legal force. A perceived obstacle has little, if any, true legal application to a given kind of intervention.
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Webster DW, Vernick JS, Hepburn LM. Relationship between licensing, registration, and other gun sales laws and the source state of crime guns. Inj Prev 2001; 7:184-9. [PMID: 11565981 PMCID: PMC1730734 DOI: 10.1136/ip.7.3.184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To determine the association between licensing and registration of firearm sales and an indicator of gun availability to criminals. METHODS Tracing data on all crime guns recovered in 25 cities in the United States were used to estimate the relationship between state gun law categories and the proportion of crime guns first sold by in-state gun dealers. RESULTS In cities located in states with both mandatory registration and licensing systems (five cities), a mean of 33.7% of crime guns were first sold by in-state gun dealers, compared with 72.7% in cities that had either registration or licensing but not both (seven cities), and 84.2% in cities without registration or licensing (13 cites). Little of the difference between cities with both licensing and registration and cities with neither licensing nor registration was explained by potential confounders. The share of the population near a city that resides in a neighboring state without licensing or registration laws was negatively associated with the outcome. CONCLUSION States with registration and licensing systems appear to do a better job than other states of keeping guns initially sold within the state from being recovered in crimes. Proximity to states without these laws, however, may limit their impact.
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Affiliation(s)
- D W Webster
- Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205-1996, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Laraque
- Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA
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