TY - JOUR PY - 2019// TI - Controlling gun violence: assessing the impact of Australia's gun buyback program using a synthetic control group experiment JO - Prevention science A1 - Bartos, Bradley J. A1 - McCleary, Richard A1 - Mazerolle, Lorraine A1 - Luengen, Kelsy SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - Gun Buyback programs have been implemented in various forms in countries such as the UK, USA, Brazil, Australia, and Argentina. Whether or not these programs are an effective approach for reducing national violent crime and homicides, however, remains unclear. Much of the uncertainty is due to the different ways in which Gun Buyback programs have been implemented. The Australian Gun Buyback program is distinguished from Gun Buyback programs in other countries by its abrupt implementation, its narrow focus on a particular class of firearms, and its broad application across the entire population. We assess the impact of Australia's 1996 Gun Buyback program on national homicide rates using a synthetic control group quasi-experimental design, comparing the results to suicide and motor vehicle fatality trends to test for plausible alternative hypotheses.

RESULTS suggest that the Gun Buyback program significantly reduced Australia's homicide rate in the decade following the intervention (1997-2007).

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1389-4986 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11121-019-01064-8 ID - ref1 ER -