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New study of studies published by Rand Corp. on gun policy

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* The Rand Corp. poured through thousands of gun policy studies published since 1995, weeded them down to 123 which “met high standards for causal evidence”…

“For our analysis, we looked for studies that made stronger claims to identifying a causal effect of individual laws,” said Andrew Morral, one of the authors of the report. “They had to show that changes (for instance, in suicide rates) that are attributed to the law occurred only after the law was implemented (not before), and did not occur in states where the law was not implemented.”

* To the research…

First, there was a clear consensus (indicated by three or more high-quality studies in agreement) that stand-your-ground laws, which allow people to use guns to defend themselves in public even if retreating is an option, result in higher overall rates of gun homicide. The higher rates aren’t simply from “bad guys” getting shot; the research shows the additional deaths created by stand-your-ground laws far surpass the documented cases of defensive gun use in the United States.

There was also a broad consensus that child access prevention laws, which set requirements for how guns must be stored at home, are effective in reducing self-inflicted gun injuries among children and adults.

* Then there were those which produced more moderate evidence, with at least two strong studies in agreement…

For instance, there is moderate evidence that banning gun purchases by people under domestic violence restraining orders decreases intimate-partner homicides. The research also showed moderate evidence that background checks reduce gun homicides, and that waiting periods for firearms purchases reduce gun suicides and overall homicide.

* And then there were those which produced “limited evidence,” meaning one strong study and none opposed…

There’s some evidence, for instance, that licensing requirements reduce suicides, that bans on gun ownership among the mentally ill reduce violent crime, that “right-to-carry” laws increase violent crime, that minimum purchasing age requirements reduce youth suicides, and that assault weapon bans end up boosting sales of those weapons in the period before the ban takes place.

The study found “no scholarly consensus” on “red flag” laws and mandatory gun-safety training. And there is no high quality research of gun-free zones and armed school employees.

That’s not to say some laws don’t work. It’s just that nobody has yet shown with some scientific certainty that they do.

Lots more info here.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 23, 20 @ 2:21 pm

Comments

Personally, I do not find any surprises in this study.

The ’stand your ground law’ is a slippery slope. It can be used as an excuse by violent people to just blast away at some one. On the other hand there are situation where people do need to defend themselves against violent people.

Comment by OpentoDiscussion Thursday, Apr 23, 20 @ 2:35 pm
Didn’t see any mention, but have there been studies on the result of “open carry” laws? [I.e., “constitutional carry” or “Ike Clanton carry”]

Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Apr 23, 20 @ 2:42 pm
Rand corporation also has a study that says stand your ground laws cause an increase of 6.8% in homicide over duty to retreat states.
Illinois is a stand your ground state. If it had a
a duty to retreat law we could reduce homicides without taking anyone’s guns.
https://www.kostlaw.com/can-stand-ground-illinois/

Comment by Muddy trail Thursday, Apr 23, 20 @ 3:36 pm
I guess I am glad that there is a study for I back up those laws but seems obvious. Sort of like studying if it is warmer in summer than winner.
Now take your grant money and do a study that will solve the problem of gun violence

Comment by DuPage Saint Thursday, Apr 23, 20 @ 3:39 pm
Ex Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy said each murder costs $5 million and each shooting costs $1 million.

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130513/bridgeport/top-cop-each-murder-costs-city-5-million-every-shooting-costs-1-million.

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Thursday, Apr 23, 20 @ 3:46 pm
“…stand-your-ground laws, which allow people to use guns to defend themselves in public even if retreating is an option, result in higher overall rates of gun homicide. “In public” could be defined as your front lawn, or anywhere but the inside of your house. “In public” could be the late night 7-11 business you own in a high-crime neighborhood.

None of these studies make any effort to research police initiated shootings, like Laquan McDonald. The DOJ does not collect data on killings of citizens by cops, why? With all these studies by the elite think tanks to convince Americans to give up their rights to protect themselves against criminals, and criminals in government, how come there is no central source that can tell you how many Americans per year are killed by police? Because the police unions do everything they can to impede reliable collection of those numbers.

Comment by Elmer Keith Thursday, Apr 23, 20 @ 5:43 pm
=== None of these studies make any effort to research police initiated shootings,===

Well Rand is looking at at something else. They are casting a wide net, not picking out shootings based on the occupations of perpetrators. There are studies that look at police shootings if you are able to spare a few seconds on Google.

Here’s one: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180205134232.htm

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Friday, Apr 24, 20 @ 11:04 am
Feel free to do your own research, on your own time. The question is why uniform numbers of citizens in American killed by American police is not collected by the Dept. of Justice? Why are those numbers hidden, and have to be pieced together by private research groups?

“…assault weapon bans end up boosting sales of those weapons in the period before the ban takes place.” If military style weapons are so bad for society, why don’t we ban them for police possession too? The Highland Park assault weapon ban exempted police and retired police- why? If these weapons are so dangerous, then take them away from militarized police forces.

Comment by Elmer Keith Friday, Apr 24, 20 @ 11:41 am