Alcohol Misuse and Gun Violence: An Evidence-Based Approach for State Policy

By The  Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy and the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  Alcohol use and gun violence are leading causes of preventable injury and death in the United States. Alcohol kills 140,000 people annually;2 guns kill more than 48,000.3 Both of them are public health crises demanding strong policies. These issues are most deadly when they intersect with one another. An estimated 1 in 3 gun homicide perpetrators drank heavily before murdering their victims, 30% of gun homicide victims drank heavily before being killed, and a quarter of gun suicide victims were heavily drinking before they died by suicide.4,5 Despite alcohol clearly being a strong risk factor for gun violence, few attempts have been made to address this intersection. Heavy drinking was involved in: Nearly one third of all gun homicides A quarter of all gun suicides In 2013, the Consortium issued its first policy recommendation related to risky alcohol use and firearm access.i Five years later, the Consortium convened leading experts to reassess this recommendation about firearm prohibitions associated with DUIs as an effective policy measure to prevent firearm-related deaths while ensuring racial equity in enforcement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, excessive drinking increased by 21% and alcohol-related deaths increased approximately 25%.6 At the same time, gun sales increased by 40%, gun homicides by 35%, and gun suicides had the largest one-year increase ever recorded.7,8 These alarming trends urge us to think about alcohol misuse as a risk factor for gun violence. To better understand this connection, the Consortium, in partnership with the Center for Gun Violence Solutions, developed this report to highlight the available research to inform policy. As detailed in this report, alcohol misuse is associated with a risk of dangerous firearm behaviors, interpersonal firearm violence, and gun suicide. Although data about how this dangerous intersection affects different communities is limited, people of color are disproportionately affected by both gun violence and alcohol misuse. This report summarizes the connection between alcohol and firearm use, reviews existing state laws, and makes a core set of recommendations for addressing the problem at the state level: 11 Limiting access to firearms by persons with a record of alcohol misuse 2) 2 Limiting access to guns when and where alcohol is consumed

Baltimore: The Authors, 2023. 32p.