Do more gun laws mean fewer gun deaths?
Study says that seems to be the case, but at least one expert calls the research flawed.
(HealthDay)—States with the strongest gun laws have fewer gun-related suicides and murders, a new study suggests.
In the study, researchers analyzed U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics on deaths between 2007 and 2010. They also looked at five categories of gun laws in all 50 states to create a gun law "strength score" for each state. The highest possible score was 28.
Over the four-year study period, there were more than 121,000 gun deaths in the United States. Average gun-related death rates ranged from a high of 17.9 per 100,000 people in Louisiana to a low of 2.9 per 100,000 in Hawaii. State gun law strength scores ranged from zero in Utah to 24 in Massachusetts.
States with the highest gun law strength scores (nine or higher) had a lower overall gun-related death rate—6.4 fewer deaths per 100,000—than those with the lowest scores (two or lower).
The study also found that states with the strongest gun laws had a lower rate of gun-related suicides (6.3 fewer deaths per 100,000) and a lower rate of gun-related deaths (0.4 fewer deaths per 100,000) than states with the weakest gun laws.
The study was published online March 6 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
"In conclusion, we found an association between the legislative strength of a state's firearm laws—as measured by a higher number of laws—and a lower rate of firearm fatalities," Dr. Eric Fleegler, of Boston Children's Hospital, and colleagues said in a JAMA news release. "The association was significant for firearm fatalities overall and for firearm suicide and firearm homicide deaths, individually. As our study could not determine a cause-and-effect relationship, further studies are necessary to define the nature of this association."
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Garen Wintemute, of the University of California, Davis, said this would be an important study "if it were robust and if its meaning were clear." He said the study provides "no firm guidance."
"Do the laws work or not? If so, which ones?" he said. "Should policymakers enact the entire package? Some part? Which part?"
Wintemute called for improvements in the way research into gun violence is conducted, including better data and better data systems.
"To prevent firearm violence, our research efforts must be substantial and sustained," he wrote.
More than 30,000 people die each year in the United States from gun-related injuries.
More information: The American College of Emergency Physicians has more about gun-related deaths and injuries.
Journal reference:
JAMA Internal Medicine
Journal of the American Medical Association
Health News Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
-
Gun shows do not increase homicides or suicides
Oct 01, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Gun traffickers exploit differences in state laws
Oct 24, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Lax gun ownership laws could impact ability of high-risk individuals to purchase firearms
Jul 09, 2012 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Economists find critique of gun buyback flawed
Apr 23, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Report exposes loopholes in gun-control laws
Sep 03, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Hospitals profit when patients develop bloodstream infections
Johns Hopkins researchers report that hospitals may be reaping enormous income for patients whose hospital stays are complicated by preventable bloodstream infections contracted in their intensive care units.
Health
27 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Alleviating hunger in the US, it's a SNAP, researcher says
A University of Illinois researcher says that the cornerstone of our efforts to alleviate food insecurity should be to encourage more people to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) "because ...
Health
29 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Parent and teacher support protects teens from sleep problems and depression
A new study suggests that disturbed sleep in adolescents is associated with more symptoms of depression and greater uncertainly about future success. However, perceived support and acceptance from parents and teachers appears ...
Health
2 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Study shows that insomnia may cause dysfunction in emotional brain circuitry
A new study provides neurobiological evidence for dysfunction in the neural circuitry underlying emotion regulation in people with insomnia, which may have implications for the risk relationship between insomnia and depression.
Health
2 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Calcium supplements linked to longer lifespans in women
Taking a calcium supplement of up to 1,000 mg per day can help women live longer, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
Health
2 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Novel approach for influenza vaccination shows promise in early animal testing
A new approach for immunizing against influenza elicited a more potent immune response and broader protection than the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines when tested in mice and ferrets. The vaccine ...
Brain can be trained in compassion, study shows
Until now, little was scientifically known about the human potential to cultivate compassion—the emotional state of caring for people who are suffering in a way that motivates altruistic behavior.
Good marriage can buffer effects of dad's depression on young children
What effect does a father's depression have on his young son or daughter? When fathers report a high level of emotional intimacy in their marriage, their children benefit, said a University of Illinois study.
Survey points out deficiencies in addictions training for medical residents
A 2012 survey of internal medicine residents at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) – one of the nation's leading teaching hospitals – found that more than half rated the training they had received in addiction and other ...
Obstructive sleep apnea associated with less visceral fat accumulation in women than men
A new study from researchers in Japan indicates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is independently associated with visceral (abdominal) fat accumulation only in men, perhaps explaining gender differences in the impact of ...
Researchers complete largest genetic sequencing study of human disease
Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have led the largest sequencing study of human disease to date, investigating the genetic basis of six autoimmune diseases.
Mar 06, 2013
Rank: 1.6 / 5 (8)
Mar 06, 2013
Rank: 4.2 / 5 (5)
Instead of focusing on cities that guns can easily be brought into from states with less strict laws, look at entire countries that have greater restrictions on firearms, such as Japan, UK, and Canada.
Mar 06, 2013
Rank: 1.7 / 5 (3)
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
"Obviously" anybody who disagrees with your own bias is wrong... O_o
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 4 / 5 (4)
But heaven forbid that gun enthusiasts should be exposed to facts...
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 2.1 / 5 (8)
If you are a 98 year old man, afraid of thugs, if you have a can of self defense pepper spray, you will go to jail for a longer time than the thugs who steal and threaten you.
In Japan, if you kill your family, mother, father, wife, two children, AND yourself, it is a family suicide and not conisered murder in the statistics.
In the USA, you kill yourself, it is considered murder in the statistics.
Those for gun control, need to be exposed to the facts.
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 2.7 / 5 (7)
https://www.youtu...kVM-jnbE
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 1.8 / 5 (5)
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 1 / 5 (6)
"In 2007, the British government was accused by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis of making "inaccurate and misleading" statements claiming that gun crime was falling, after official figures showed that gun-related killings and injuries recorded by police had risen more than fourfold since 1998, mainly due to a rise in non-fatal injuries."
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 1 / 5 (6)
http://webarchive...0207.pdf
-Page 36. Fourfold. You will also note on page 7, chart 1B, the 'currently recorded' dashed line that rose sharply after 1997. This might be interpreted as violence against newly-disarmed victims who were unable to defend themselves from perps newly-emboldened by this defenseless state.
-Disarm citizens and 1) nongun violence goes up and 2) black market supplies of more lethal guns increases.
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 1 / 5 (6)
"According to the January 16, 2000 edition of the Sunday Times of London, "up to 3 million illegal guns are in circulation in Britain, leading to a rise in drive-by shootings and gangland-style executions."
"As predicted, when ownership of all guns becomes illegal, the buyers will shift toward the higher power weapons. "There is a move from the pistol and the shotgun to automatic weapons," British Detective Superintendent Keith Hudson told the Sunday Times.
"British criminals have all the guns they want. The Sunday Times thus reported: "Detectives say modern weapons are fast becoming fashion accessories among young drug dealers protecting themselves and their territory."
-And Britain doesnt have our porous borders, rampant gang activity, or proximity to foreign suppliers such as the mexican cartels. Millions of fully automatic AKMs sit in ME, african, and eastern euro warehouses waiting for lucrative markets.
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 1.5 / 5 (8)
http://www.daveko...trol.htm
-Demographics and a much smaller initial gun density among citizens/subjects are the main factors in differences. You cannot compare the US with canada. The same is true for japan:
http://www.daveko...trol.htm
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 1.6 / 5 (7)
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 2.5 / 5 (8)
Post some statistics on the number of cases of anyone actually defending themselves wit a firearm in the U.S.
There were almost no such cases that I'm aware of in the U.S. in the past year.
But we did have several mass shootings, including two maliciously planned, even booby trapped mass shootings, involving military grade weapons which never should have been available to the public.
Man, I come from a family that is obsessed with hunting, and I qualified Sharpshooter skill level in shooting, and I don't think people should have some "right" to own and operate automatic weapons.
Automatic weapons should be restricted to law enforcement and military. Period. Law enforcement should be required to turn in their automatic weapons when off duty, unless they are under cover.
It's freaking ridiculous that some punk kid can walk into a theatre or a school and unload hundreds of rounds, and you don't seem to care, all because you want to protect your second amendment "rights".
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 2.1 / 5 (7)
You want everyone at a movie theatre to be packing a 9mm or an AK47?
When the perp opens fire, everyone else shoots at him, hitting one another, and then people get confused and don't even know who the original shooter was, etc...
Is that the kind of messed up crap you want for your "second amendment rights"?
Because your weapon isn't protecting you at the theatre if it's at home in your dresser drawer or your glove box, but the LUNATICS weapon is killing you while you are in the theatre, whether or not you own a gun.
Even if you had the gun on your person, the attacker has the advantage. First person to blink dies.
Same thing as the security guard problem. The first security guard at each post is useless, as they just become the first target.
It takes at least two security guards to stop a rogue attacker, and that's assuming the second guard is lucky, and assuming the attacker doesn't have inside help.
So that doesn't work at all.
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 1.6 / 5 (7)
http://www.huffin...308.html
-And dont forget george zimmerman--and to qualified FFL owners. Who have never used one in the commission of a crime. This IS a free country.
I am thinking that you know so little about guns that you are unaware of the difference between full- and semi-auto. A skilled wheelgun shooter can shoot just as fast as any autoloader.'Military grade'... Does this include bolt action sniper weapons used to hunt dear, pump shotguns used to clear ratholes in vietnam, or 9mm semi-auto handguns?
Mil-grade guns are full-auto. Do black guns disturb you?
Mar 07, 2013
Rank: 1.6 / 5 (7)
http://www.youtub...QOlJvMzE
This is why we have carry permits.My god youre stupid. MANY MANY schools already HAVE armed guards. They are COMMON.
http://www.thebla...-school/
Do some freeking research.
Mar 08, 2013
Rank: 4 / 5 (4)
A guard at a post doesn't know who the bad guy is till they open fire, especially if you want everyone to have a right to carry guns everywhere.
It's called surprise/sneak attack, dumbass.
You don't know you're being attacked until it happens, and by the time the first person has already been shot.
Since the first guard will always be the first person to be shot by any attacker who gave it any thought, then a second guard is required to stop the attacker...
Mar 08, 2013
Rank: 1 / 5 (5)
Maybe you would want to put your magnificent brain to work trying to figure out why this is done, and how it is done safely and effectively, and how it keeps people from getting shot?
http://www.cnn.co...dex.html
Mar 08, 2013
Rank: 4 / 5 (4)
Therefore an armed guard deters against a rational villain.
Lunatic shooters are not rational, so they are either not considering their eventual death, or they plan to die anyway, therefore the guards won't deter such attacks.
Mar 09, 2013
Rank: 1 / 5 (3)
Armed guards protect our politicians, celebrities, national monuments, and museum art. They keep lunatics and insane criminals from escaping confinement.
There are armed guards in courthouses, supermarkets, malls, bank repositories, museums, embassies, state houses, armored cars, and riding around in cop cars. Because they make convenient targets. Obamas kids go to a school with armed guards.
Armed guards are everywhere. The only things you seem to think aren't worthy of their protection, are children.
Maybe you would want to put your magnificent brain to work trying to figure out how this can be, and IS, routinely done safely and effectively, and how it keeps people from getting shot?
Mar 09, 2013
Rank: 1 / 5 (3)
Mar 09, 2013
Rank: 2 / 5 (4)
http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1235633
'Oh! Teachers with guns in school! What happens if a student grabs one?!?' -says the lunatic. I've been in mcdonalds, in malls, in supermarkets, with cops and armed guards roaming around amidst crowds of kids. I've never seen a kid grab a gun nor have I read about this happening. Have you?
Mar 09, 2013
Rank: 3 / 5 (4)
Mar 10, 2013
Rank: 2.3 / 5 (3)
Their logic & thought process is so perverted and numerous factors missing to make what 'they' the lunatics want to believe fit.
example 'if you are a 80# woman who is running away from a 200# muscled exboyfriend'
It's also proof that pro gun advocates have 'lower' cognitive and intelligence capability.
Mar 10, 2013
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
See their logic and thought process?
Mar 10, 2013
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
This abstract doesn't answer that, maybe the full paper does..
Mar 10, 2013
Rank: 1 / 5 (3)