By Gia Barboza-Salerno, Sharefa Duhaney, & Hexin Yang

This study investigates the spatial accessibility of gun violence exposure along walkable routes to and from schools in Englewood, Chicago. Focusing on both direct and indirect forms of gun violence, the study uses acoustic detection technology to quantify the cumulative burden of gun violence exposure potentially encountered by students during their commute to and from school. We examined the spatial distribution of shooting incidents in proximity to schools using network-constrained kernel density estimation, secondary spatial analysis, and rapid realistic routing. G-function analysis revealed that shooting incidents cluster along streets, including safe passage routes, near schools. An average of 1.30 and 18.06 gunshots were reachable within 5- and 15-min commute times in the morning and afternoon, respectively Our findings underscore the urgent need to reframe the narrative around ‘school gun violence’ to consider exposures that occur in proximity to school boundaries to more effectively reduce violence exposure for youth who walk to school in violence-prone neighborhoods.

SSM - Population Health, Volume 28, December 2024, 13p.

By Everytown Research & Policy

Executive Summary Hateful rhetoric and violence against transgender people has become a feature of society and politics across the globe in recent years, but in the US—where there are more guns than people —it often turns lethal. To better understand the risk factors for violence against transgender people, and the role firearms play, Everytown Research analyzed over 200 homicides of transgender and gender-expansive people in the United States and Puerto Rico from 2017 to 2022. The findings from this research warrant renewed calls for strong gun violence prevention policies that keep guns out of the wrong hands, such as laws that require background checks on all gun sales, raise the age to purchase a gun, and disarm domestic abusers. They also highlight the need to combat discrimination against trans people and to manage upstream risk factors, like housing insecurity, inequality, and poverty in order to help save trans lives. Key Findings Our analysis of the 228 known homicides of transgender people in the United States and Puerto Rico from January 2017 through December 2022 revealed the following: laws that require background checks on all gun sales, raise the age to purchase a gun, and disarm domestic abusers. They also highlight the need to combat discrimination against trans people and to manage upstream risk factors, like housing insecurity, inequality, and poverty in order to help save trans lives. 4 5 6 A gun was used in more than seven in 10 transgender homicides. Sixty-five percent of transgender victims of gun homicide were Black trans women. Yet among the general US population, only 7 percent of gun homicide victims are Black women. Nearly six in 10 trans victims of homicide were under the age of 30. More than one in three identified gun homicide perpetrators were legally prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior felony convictions or other prohibiting factors. One-third of transgender victims of homicide experienced housing insecurity or homelessness. The majority of those victims were killed with a gun. Trans people killed with a gun were nearly twice as likely to be killed by a family member or intimate partner than were gun homicide victims generally. A disproportionate number of gun homicides of trans people took place in the South, and Florida and Texas together were home to nearly one out of every five trans gun homicides

New York: Everytown Research & Policy, 2024. 31p.

By Everytown Research & Policy

he intersection of gun violence and domestic violence has a devastating impact on families and communities across the country, with an average of 76 women in the United States shot and killed by an intimate partner every month, and many more shot and wounded. It is therefore crucial for law enforcement to be vigilant about recognizing warning signs of potential lethal violence by abusers, and to implement policies that help prevent this violence rather than only responding after a tragedy occurs.

One key piece of information that law enforcement should take seriously as a potential warning sign of future violence is a report that an individual who is barred from gun possession because of a disqualifying domestic violence-related conviction or restraining order has attempted to purchase a gun in violation of the law. As the result of a new federal law enacted in 2022, the NICS Denial Notification Act, state and local law enforcement are now notified—within 24 hours—every time a prohibited domestic abuser attempts to buy a gun and fails a background check. But in most states, there is no policy in place to follow up in these cases to investigate whether the survivor of abuse is in imminent danger.

Everytown for Gun Safety obtained data from the FBI that reveals a stunning reality: every year thousands of prohibited abusers attempt to purchase guns and are prevented from doing so because of the background check system: From 2018 through 2022, 135,243 background checks were denied because the purchaser was a prohibited domestic abuser. While this is an example of the background check system working as designed to prevent gun sales to prohibited individuals, each of these cases also raises a new red flag about a potential risk of violence and presents an opportunity to intervene and prevent future homicides of women by an intimate partner.

In light of the significant risk of future violence by domestic abusers with firearms, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies should implement a policy of investigating each of these cases as part of a proactive approach to preventing gun violence. This type of investigation should include assessing whether there are other risk factors of imminent violence, determining whether the individual has unlawfully obtained firearms through other means, following up with the individual to reiterate that they are prohibited from buying and possessing firearms, and working with victims’ services staff and local domestic violence service providers to notify the survivor that the abuser has attempted to purchase a gun and offer assistance with safety planning. In addition, appropriate cases should be referred to prosecutors for further investigation into whether criminal charges should be pursued for the unlawful attempted gun purchase.

New York: Everytown Research & Policy, 2024 11p.

By Jennifer E. O’Brien ; Lisa M. Jones; Kimberly J. Mitchell; and Gina Zwerling Kahn

Objectives: Child sex trafficking (CST) is the involvement of minors in the commercial exchange of sex for goods, services, drugs, or money. The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected many risk factors associated with CST victimization and the availability of CST services. We examined service providers’ perspectives on how the pandemic affected trajectories of CST victimization among young people in the United States. Methods: We collected qualitative data from 80 law enforcement professionals and service providers working with young people affected by CST from 11 US cities. Semistructured interviews lasted approximately 1 hour and were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded via a grounded theory approach. Results: We found 3 overarching themes related to the pandemic’s effect on CST victimization trajectories: grooming, perpetration, and service provision. Participants described how increased online activity may have increased the risk of CST, even among children without traditional risk factors. However, technology also facilitated young people’s agency in seeking help and receiving services. In addition, participants reported increases in virtual service provision that facilitated access to, and availability of, CST services more generally. Conclusions: Technology use among young people increased during the pandemic, leading to increases in the risks of experiencing technology-facilitated CST. Technology use among young people who experience CST victimization—and how it may differ from young people more generally—is underexplored and may provide insights into prevention and treatment. Collectively, results highlight the need for epidemiologic research to help identify how global and national events affect trajectories of victimization among young people

Public Health Reports 1–7 , 2024, 7p.

By David Bruce

Mapping gun crimes can ensure that police resources are used in a targeted way to reduce violent offences.

Firearm crime is rife in South Africa. Mapping it can help ensure police resources are used in a targeted way to reduce firearm-related offences. This policy brief illustrates how firearm crime can be mapped by using police data. It focuses on Gauteng province, which has high levels of gun use by criminals.

Key findings Firearms make a major contribution to crime-related death, injury and fear in South Africa. In areas with high firearm crime levels, there are seven main gun-related crime categories: murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, carjacking, residential robbery, nonresidential robbery and illegal possession of guns and ammunition. South Africa’s highest gun-related crime levels are in the following provinces: Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Eastern Cape. Recommendations The SAPS should develop a focused strategy to reduce levels of firearm crime and violence. The SAPS should use crime data to identify the areas where firearm crime is most concentrated. This will support the targeted use of resources to reduce firearm crime. Targeted evidence-based strategies are more likely to have a measurable impact on levels of violent crimes associated with firearm use. As an initial step, the SAPS should use available information on ‘instruments’ used in crime from the Crime Administration System (CAS), or docket analysis, to assess levels of firearm crime in each police station area. The results will show the provinces, metropolitan In these provinces, police station areas with the highest levels of crime in the seven main gun-related crime categories are also high firearm-use areas. South African Police Service (SAPS) data on Gauteng police stations with high levels of these seven crimes highlights 41 high firearm crime police stations. Although data collection standards differ between stations, SAPS Crime Administration System data generally includes details on weapons used and can be used to map gun crime more precisely. areas and districts, and stations where firearm crime is most concentrated. Docket quality, data collection, recording, mapping and analysis on all crimes related to firearms and ammunition should be improved. Dedicated firearm crime reduction units with adequate intelligence support should be established. Their key performance measure must be a reduction in murders, attempted murders and robberies involving firearms. Police measures to reduce firearm crime must be aligned with efforts to lessen the overall problem of firearm proliferation in South Africa.

Pretoria, South Africa: Institute for Security Studies, 2024. 16p.

By Brittni Lambing, Ron Frandsen, Jennifer Karberg, and Joseph Durso

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act) requires a background check on an applicant for a firearm purchase from a dealer who is a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL). During the permanent Brady Act period, from 1999 through 2018, background checks were conducted on over 237 million applicants for firearm transfers or permits. During this period, nearly 3.5 million applications for firearm transfers or permits were denied by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or by state and local agencies. This report summarizes the number of applications for firearm transfers and permits, denials that resulted from background checks, reasons for denial, rates of denial, appeals of denials, and arrests of denied persons during the permanent Brady Act period. Statistics are presented at the FBI, state, and local levels. The report also provides a summary of significant changes in federal and state laws and regulations related to firearm sales. Statistical highlights are presented in the body of the report, and complete details are included in an appendix.

Washington, DC: Regional Justice Information Service; 2024. 29p

By Alexandra Punishill

Nowhere is the discussion surrounding gun violence more prominent than in the United States, with the impacts of our gun-friendly culture being felt around the world. This thesis analyzes the dynamics of gun trafficking from the United States to Mexico and sheds light on its role in fueling the epidemic of gun violence south of the border. It is argued that the particular system of federalism adopted by the United States has led to a variety of state-level gun regulations that have shaped domestic gun policy and have had an international impact. Despite Mexico’s persistent efforts to combat the gun violence orchestrated by powerful organized crime networks, success remains elusive. Central to this discourse is Mexico’s legal action against U.S. gun companies, signaling a significant shift in its approach to addressing the root causes of the crisis. However, it is argued that without substantive changes to gun laws in the United States, gun violence in Mexico will continue to have a devastating impact on both sides of the border.

Claremont McKenna College, CMC Senior Theses. 3577. 2024. 66p.

By Christopher Hernandez-Roy, Henry Ziemer, and Azucena Duarte

Although only 8 percent of the world lives in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the region accounts for a third of all homicides worldwide. LAC cities consistently top international rankings as some of the most violent locales outside of active conflict zones. Behind this insecurity are powerful and deeply entrenched transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) trafficking drugs and other illegal commodities, who in turn rely on a seemingly endless flow of illicit firearms to carry out their campaigns of violence and intimidation on the Western Hemisphere’s inhabitants. Arms trafficking goes well beyond a law enforcement challenge; the proliferation of semi- and fully automatic rifles, grenade launchers, and various high-caliber weapons are increasingly used by TCOs to hold at risk the very sovereignty of LAC governments. Stories from Mexico, Haiti, Ecuador, and beyond all underscore how the scourge of illicit weapons, and the groups who wield them, can plunge communities, and even whole countries, into violence.

Leveraging new data sources, this report examines the prevalence and patterns of arms trafficking within and between each of the four subregions. Recognizing the nature of the threat arms trafficking presents to the Western Hemisphere at large, the report seeks to define the contours of a new strategy to combat illegal guns, concluding with recommendations for the United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean to pursue.

Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 2024.

By Rachel Rein

This Note explores human trafficking in the United States through Disability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit). First, the Note offers background on trafficking and applicable federal law. The Note shows that not only does trafficking disable people, but that people with preexisting disabilities are especially at risk for trafficking. Next, the Note indicates that trafficking law follows a Law-and-Order framework that retraumatizes marginalized survivors. Then, the Note introduces DisCrit and justifies its use for anti-trafficking advocacy. Finally, the Note applies DisCrit. By looking at trafficking law through DisCrit, it becomes clear that trafficking law must work with—not against—survivors to end human suffering.

42 Colum. J. Gender & L. 183 (2022).

By Michele Ubaldi Matteo Picchio 

We study the effect of mass shooting exposure on individuals’ mental health by using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Our identification strategy relies on the quasi-randomness of mass shootings in a staggered difference-in-differences design. We compare changes in mental health outcomes of individuals living in affected cities with changes in matched individuals living in non-proximal and not-affected cities. We find that mass shootings have a substantial adverse impact on mental health, which persists for up to six years. This impact is not statistically significant for Black individuals, whereas it is slightly more pronounced among women and older cohorts

Bonn, Garmany:  IZA – Institute of Labor Economics  2024. 45p.

By: Erika Harrell, Jennifer L. Truman, Katherine A. Fowler, Kristin Holland, Thomas R. Simon, and Steven A. Sumner

This report examines trends and patterns in firearm violence from 1993 to 2023 using a combination of data sources to provide a broad perspective on fatal and nonfatal firearm violence in the Unites States that could not be achieved through any single source of information. It includes data on firearm type; incident location; victim and offender demographic characteristics and relationship; injury and treatment type; police notification; and victims’ self-protective behaviors.

Estimates in this report are based primarily on data from BJS’s National Crime Victimization Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Vital Statistics System death certificate data queried through the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System. Additional estimates come from the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System, National Syndromic Surveillance Program, and Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The report is organized to present findings from each data source in separate sections.

Highlights

• The rate of nonfatal firearm violence for persons age 12 or older declined 72% from 1993 to 2023, dropping from 7.3 to 2.0 victimizations per 1,000 persons, and varied from 1.2 to 2.3 per 1,000 during 2019 to 2023.

• About 64% of nonfatal firearm violence was reported to police during 2018–2022.

• The firearm homicide rate among persons age 12 or older fluctuated between 1993 and 2023, with a decline from 1993 to 2014 (from 8.4 to 4.0 homicides per 100,000 persons age 12 or older) before rising to 7.3 per 100,000 in 2021.

• From 2018 to 2022, on average, 80% of homicides were committed with a firearm

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2024. 41p.

By Michele Ubaldi Matteo Picchio

We study the effect of mass shooting exposure on individuals’ mental health by using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Our identification strategy relies on the quasi-randomness of mass shootings in a staggered difference-in-differences design. We compare changes in mental health outcomes of individuals living in affected cities with changes of matched individuals living in non-proximal and not affected cities. We find that mass shootings have a substantial adverse impact on mental health, which persists for up to six years. This impact is not statistically significant for Black individuals, whereas it is slightly more pronounced among women and older cohorts

Bonn, Garmany: IZA – Institute of Labor Economics 2024. 45p.

By Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)

Trafficking in persons is a global challenge that transcends borders, and the advent of AI technologies has the potential to amplify both its reach and complexity. It is precisely this global nature of both trafficking and AI that necessitates coordinated, regional, and international responses. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Regional Support Office of the Bali Process (RSO) have jointly developed this brief on the emerging nexus of artificial intelligence (AI), trafficking in persons, and transnational crime with a clear objective: to equip policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and the technology sector with the insights needed to anticipate and pre-emptively address the potential implications of AI on trafficking in persons.

Vienna: OSCE, 2024. 33p.

By Chelsa L. Kenney

Some Caribbean nations, such as Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, have high rates of violence, including homicide. In 2021, Caribbean countries accounted for six of the world’s 10 highest national murder rates, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The United Nations and other organizations monitoring firearms trafficking have reported that a high percentage of the firearms used in these crimes have been trafficked from the U.S. GAO was asked to report on U.S. efforts to counter firearms trafficking to Caribbean nations. This report examines (1) what data and reporting show about the trafficking and use of firearms in Caribbean countries; (2) U.S. agencies’ efforts to disrupt firearms trafficking in these countries; and (3) agency efforts to track results of key efforts to combat firearms trafficking from the U.S. to the Caribbean. GAO reviewed federal firearms recovery and trace data, and other related U.S. agency data, analysis, and program information for fiscal years 2018 through 2022, the most recent available at the time of our review. GAO interviewed U.S. and Caribbean officials through in-person site visits in the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago, and through video conferences with Barbados, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica. GAO selected these countries based on geographic diversity, the percentage of recovered firearms that were of U.S. origin, and U.S. agency efforts in country to combat firearms trafficking. What GAO Recommends GAO is recommending that State update the CBSI’s Results Framework to establish firearms trafficking specific indicators. State concurred.  

Washington, DC:  United States Government Accountability Office, 2024. 55p.

By Everytown Research & Policy , Everytown for Gun Safety

The gun industry has long avoided taking responsibility for the use of its products in crimes and violence. Despite receiving notifications from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) when their guns are recovered and traced,2 manufacturers often deny knowledge of just how often their guns inflict harm upon communities.3 Instead, they continue to produce increasingly deadly weapons and lean into dangerous advertising tactics, while generating an estimated $9 billion in revenue annually.4 Meanwhile, America’s gun violence epidemic costs the country over 44,000 lives and $557 billion each year.

To combat this attempt to avoid responsibility, the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (Everytown) embarked on a city-by-city collection of recovered crime gun data, seeking to answer the question of which gun manufacturers’ weapons are showing up at America’s crime scenes. This data collection was made possible by Everytown’s long-standing coalition of mayors fighting to end gun violence: Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The data received included 178,218 crime guns recovered in 34 US cities over the past five years

Key findings from Everytown’s analysis include:

• Of the over 11,000 licensed gun manufacturers in the United States, four manufacturers—Glock, Taurus, Smith & Wesson, and Ruger—accounted for over 40 percent of the guns recovered in crimes in 2023.6

• Glock pistols were recovered at crime scenes twice as often as the second-leading manufacturer, Taurus.7

• Crime scene recoveries of Polymer80s—the largest producer of ghost guns today—increased nearly 1,200 percent over the past five years, finally showing signs of decline in 2023, following litigation as well as regulatory and legislative fixes.8

• Twenty cities reported recovering more than 560 machine gun conversion devices in 2023, at least two-thirds of which were “Glock switches.”

This report adds to the growing evidence about the use of gun manufacturers’ products in crimes.9 It highlights the urgency for manufacturers and policymakers to act by implementing codes of conduct, cutting off irresponsible dealers, innovating safety features, and advertising products responsibly because the best time to prevent gun violence is before it happens.

New York: Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety, 2024. 15p.

By Everytown for Gun Safety 

 Deaths due to firearm violence occur in alarming numbers in the United States (U.S.) each year. In 2023, over 43,000 people died from a firearm-related injury, and the majority (55%) of these deaths were from suicide (Gun Violence Archive, 2024). Young people are at heightened risk, with firearms being the leading cause of death for youth ages 13-24, and the cause of half of all suicide deaths in this age group as well (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024; National Violent Death Reporting System, 2024). Only in the last five years did Congress allocate federal resources for firearm violence research, and the prior decades-long ban on this research has stymied information that could have been used to prevent these deaths (Hellman, 2019). This lack of research has had wide-reaching effects, including the limited understanding of how firearm violence impacts specific vulnerable populations, such as LGBTQ+ individuals. Although much progress has been made, systematic data collection efforts that assess LGBTQ+ identity and experiences have long been a challenge in the U.S., similarly limiting available research on LGBTQ+ health and wellness (Healthy People 2030, 2023). One of the most consistent findings we do know from available research, however, is that LGBTQ+ young people experience higher rates of considering and attempting suicide compared to their peers. The Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People found that 39% of all LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. This finding is important in the context of what we know about firearms: they are the most lethal means used in suicide attempts; nearly 9 in 10 (89.6%) suicide attempts with a firearm result in death (Conner, Azrael, & Miller, 2019). Furthermore, though mass shootings constitute a small fraction (1.5%) of firearm deaths in the U.S., the public nature of this violence, often targeted toward members of oppressed groups, still have noteworthy impact. Mass shootings are defined by The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as any incident in which four or more people are shot and wounded or killed, excluding the shooter. Many LGBTQ+ people across the country identified with the victims of two widely publicized mass shootings that occurred at LGBTQ+ nightclubs in recent years: the Pulse shooting in 2016, and the shooting at Club Q in 2022. The mental health of survivors and directly impacted geographic communities are adversely affected by mass shootings (Lowe & Galea, 2017), and individuals not directly affected by mass shooting events can  also experience post-traumatic stress through media exposure (Thompson et al., 2019). In the instance of the Pulse shooting, those who identified as LGBTQ+ responded more strongly to media coverage and, in turn, experienced more post-traumatic stress (First et al., 2023). Everytown for Gun Safety states that not only is addressing firearms essential to any strategy to reduce suicide, but also that the effect of mass shootings extends to survivors, families, and communities. Despite the elevated risk of suicide attempts among LGBTQ+ young people, the fact that the majority of firearm deaths in the U.S. are suicides, and the high lethality of suicide attempts involving firearms, little is known about how many LGBTQ+ young people own or have access to firearms, or how experiences of mass shooting events impact suicide risk. Using data from the 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young people, this brief examines relationships between access to firearms, the impact of mass shootings, and suicide risk among LGBTQ+ young people. Results Access to Firearms Overall, 40% of LGBTQ+ young people reported that there was a firearm in their home. The majority (92%) of those with a firearm in the home reported that it was not theirs. Additionally, of those who reported the presence of a firearm in their home, 63% reported that the firearm was kept in a locked place, 22% reported that it was not kept in a locked place, and 15% reported that they did not know whether it was kept in a locked place. Demographics LGBTQ+ young people ages 13-17 reported higher rates of having a firearm in their home (44%), compared to their LGBTQ+ young people ages 18-24 (36%). LGBTQ+ young people living in the South reported the highest rates of having a firearm in their home (48%), followed by LGBTQ+ young people living in the Midwest (43%), West (37%), and Northeast (25%). Cisgender boys and men reported the highest rates of living in a home with a firearm (46%), followed by transgender girls and women (43%), transgender boys and men (42%), nonbinary youth (38%), youth questioning their gender identity (38%), and cisgender girls and women (36%). Native and Indigenous LGBTQ+ young people reported the highest rates of living in a home with a firearm (58%), followed by White LGBTQ+ young people (45%), Multiracial LGBTQ+ young people (38%), Black LGBTQ+ young people (31%), Latinx LGBTQ+ young people (29%), Middle Eastern and North African LGBTQ+ young people (22%), and Asian American and Pacific Islander LGBTQ+ young people (21%). No significant differences were found in rates of having a firearm in the home when comparing LGBTQ+ youth based on their socioeconomic status  LGBTQ+ young people who reported the presence of a firearm in their home reported higher rates of having seriously considered suicide in the past year (43%), compared to their LGBTQ+ peers who did not report a firearm in their home (37%). Reporting the presence of a firearm in the home was associated with 19% higher odds of seriously considering suicide in the past year (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.19, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 1.11-1.28, p < 0.001), compared to LGBTQ+ young people who did not report the presence of a firearm in the home. LGBTQ+ young people who reported having a firearm in their home had higher rates of attempting suicide in the past year (13%), compared to their LGBTQ+ peers who did not report having a firearm in their home (11%). The presence of a firearm in the home was associated with 17% higher odds of reporting a suicide attempt in the past year (aOR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.05-1.30, p < 0.01), Among LGBTQ+ young people who reported having a firearm in their home, 48% of those who did not keep it in a locked place and 46% of those who did not know if it was kept in a locked place seriously considered suicide in the last year, compared to the 40% who said the firearms were kept in a locked place (p<.001). Similarly, among those LGBTQ+ young people who reported the presence of a firearm in their home, 14% of those who did not keep it in a locked place and 15% of those who did not know if it was kept in a locked place attempted suicide in the last year, compared to the 12% who said the firearms were kept in a locked place (p<.001).

New York: Everytown for Gun Safety, 2024. 11p.

By Jennifer Carlson  

This review is about scholarly contributions to a hotly debated issue—gun policy. Teasing apart the politics of evidence within gun politics, it examines both how research agendas shape gun policy and politics as well as how gun policy and politics shape research agendas. To do so, the article maps out two waves of gun research, Gun Studies 1.0 and Gun Studies 2.0. Gun Studies 1.0 emphasizes scientific evidence as a foundation for generating consensus about public policy, and it includes criminological studies aimed at addressing guns as criminogenic tools, public health work aimed at addressing guns as public health problems, and jurisprudential scholarship aimed at adjudicating guns as legal objects. Reviewing how these approaches incited popular debates and public policies that, in turn, shaped subsequent conditions of gun scholarship, the article then turns to Gun Studies 2.0. Instead of taking evidence as self-evident, this body of scholarship tends to prioritize the meaning-making processes that make meaningful—or not— evidence surrounding gun policy. Accordingly, Gun Studies 2.0 unravels the political and cultural conditions of the contemporary US gun debate and broadens inquiries into gun harm and gun security. In addition to discussing areas for future study, this study concludes by encouraging gun researchers to attend to the politics of evidence as they mobilize scholarship not just to inform the gun debate but also to transform it

Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci. 2020. 16:183–202 

By Thomas R. Simon,  Heather B. Clayton,  Linda L. Dahlberg; Corinne David-Ferdon,  Greta Kilmer,  Colleen Barbero, 

Suicide and homicide are the second and third leading causes of death, respectively, among youths aged 14–17 years (1); nearly one half (46%) of youth suicides and most (93%) youth homicides result from firearm injuries (1). Understanding youth gun carrying and associated outcomes can guide prevention initiatives (2). This study used the updated measure of gun carrying in the 2017 and 2019 administrations of CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey* (YRBS) to describe the national prevalence of gun carrying for reasons other than hunting or sport among high school students aged <18 years and to examine the associations between gun carrying and experiencing violence, suicidal ideation or attempts, or substance use. Gun carrying during the previous 12 months was reported by one in 15 males and one in 50 females. Gun carrying was significantly more likely among youths with violence-related experiences (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] range = 1.5–10.1), suicidal ideation or attempts (aPR range = 1.8–3.5), or substance use (aPR range = 4.2–5.6). These results underscore the importance of comprehensive approaches to preventing youth violence and suicide, including strategies that focus on preventing youth substance use and gun carrying (3). CDC’s YRBS uses an independent three-stage cluster sample design to achieve a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9–12 who attend public or private schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (4). The overall response rates for 2017 and 2019 were 60% (14,765) and 60.3% (13,677), respectively. After the removal of responses missing age (153; 0.5%), those indicating legal age to purchase a firearm (i.e., age ≥18 years) (3,412; 12%), and those missing sex (138; 0.5%) or gun carrying information (2,927; 10.3%), the final analytic sample included 21,812 students. Information on YRBS weighting, sampling, and psychometric properties has previously been reported (4,5). YRBS was reviewed and approved by CDC and ICF institutional review boards.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Weekly / Vol. 71 / No. 30 July 29, 2022 

By Clément Evroux

Manufacturing and trade in firearms for civilian purposes employs around 150,000 people in the EU. In 2020, the Commission adopted a 2020-2025 action plan on firearms trafficking to help curb the illegal flows of firearms, and ammunition, while also strengthening the legal market. The adoption of Directive (EU) 2021/555 on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons in 2021 was the first legislative outcome of the plan. In October 2022, the Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on import, export and transit measures for firearms, their essential components and ammunition, another legislative commitment in its action plan. The proposed regulation would pursue three main objectives: a) neutralising the risks of trafficking at import and export; b) ensuring traceability in the firearms trade, based on systematic written information; and c) promoting efficient implementation of controls. Compared to the current rules, the proposal extends the material scope to exports, provides for consistent interpretation of rules across Member States, and allows for the flow of data at EU level. The Committee on International Trade (INTA) adopted its report on 27 October 2023. It strengthens the transparency and traceability provisions contained in the proposal, whilst ensuring alignment with the directive. Second edition. The 'EU Legislation in Progress' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the legislative procedure.

Brussels: EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2023. 10p.

By Silvia Villarreal, Rose Kim, Elizabeth Wagner, Nandita Somayaji, Ari Davis, M Cassandra Crifasi

This report outlines gun death data from 2022, the most recent year of finalized data available. All data were accessed using the Centers for Disease Control’s Underlying Cause of Death database, part of the Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) database. The Underlying Cause of Death database contains data based on death certificates for U.S. residents and is the most reliable national source of gun death data available in the U.S. The gun death data used from this database depicts injury mortality by intent using the following categories: homicide, suicide, unintentional, legal intervention, and undetermined. Rates are calculated by the residence listed of decedent, not where the shooting actually took place. For simplification purposes, we created the following age categories to examine gun violence centered on youth: children (ages 1–9) and teens (10–17). For smaller, specific age ranges, we created the following categories: older teens (15–17) and emerging adults (17–19).

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 2024. 23p.