Citation

Rowhani-Rahbar A, Bellenger MA, Rivara FP. J. Am. Med. Assoc. JAMA 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Editor, JAMA Network Open.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jama.2019.16286

PMID

31603460

Abstract

Firearm violence continues to exert its devastating toll as a public health crisis in the United States—more than 35 000 individuals in the United States die from firearm-related injuries each year. The medical and public health community as well as the public have become increasingly vocal in advocating for policies that could reduce the burden of firearm-related injury and death.1 While there has been little legislative activity regarding firearms at the federal level, states have been active in implementing several laws through both legislative and initiative mechanisms in recent years. The result is a series of “natural experiments,” in which some states have specific laws that have been or are being implemented or repealed over time. Even among states with laws in specific domains, there is substantial heterogeneity in components of these laws. Examples include universal background checks (requiring background checks for firearm transfers whether they are purchased from a licensed dealer or an unlicensed seller), permit to purchase (requiring firearm purchasers to apply to law enforcement agencies to obtain a permit before approaching sellers), extreme risk protection orders (allowing families or law enforcement officers to petition a court to temporarily restrict access to firearms for a person at high risk of harming themselves or others), and firearm storage laws (requiring some form of storage, such as use of a locking device, in certain situations when firearms are not in use). A thorough assessment of the effectiveness of these polices requires data on firearms to allow comparisons between states and over time. However, in most states, such data currently do not exist or are not available to researchers.

Although much has been written about limitations in funding for firearm violence research, especially at the federal level, relatively less attention has been devoted to barriers in obtaining and accessing data needed to address important policy and practice questions. The availability of funds to collect data by researchers is imperative; nonetheless, there are circumstances in which the lack of access to pertinent information that is not readily collectible by investigators, regardless of research funding, can adversely affect specific areas of inquiry in firearm violence...

Language: en