Citation

Chakraborty S, Menifield CE, Daw R. J. Public Manag. Soc. Policy 2022; 29(1): 89-111.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

In recent years, the number of gun related killings appear to be on the rise. In fact, data show that gun related murders rose 32% between 2014 and 2017 (Gramlich 2019). While the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows citizens to bear weapons, many states have passed additional laws regulating the industry. These include restrictive and prohibitive laws. The goal of this paper is to assess the impact of changes in hand gun related legislation on firearm homicide rates in the United States for the period 1999-2015. More specifically, we focus on the impact of stand your ground, right to carry and background checks laws and how they impact changes in homicide rates. Using a unique data set, we created a change point model and used regression models to show that changes to handgun laws do in fact impact homicide rates in many states.

Key Words: Handgun laws, stand your ground, background checks, right to carry.

Language: en