The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

Abstract

America has both the highest gun death rate (12 per 100,000 persons) and the highest gun circulation rate (about 121 firearms in circulation for every 100 persons) of any developed country. Taken together, these statistics might lead one to assume that ...

Abstract

I trace the evolution of gun culture in the U.S., starting with the prehistorical normality and significance of projectile weaponry among Homo sapiens, then turning to the largely practical use of firearms as tools in the Colonial, Revolutionary, and ...

Abstract

Firearm injury is a major cause of death, disability, and other harms to community well-being across the U.S. Economics and public health offer two complementary perspectives to conceptualize gun violence and formulate strategies to mitigate related ...

Abstract

Since 2015, tens of millions of guns have entered the U.S. market. Using household survey data, we found that the number of firearms owned by U.S. adults increased from 265 million in 2015 to 326 million in 2019. Over this period, the proportion of ...

Abstract

Substantial evidence has documented a powerful “instrumentality” effect: the more lethal the weaponry employed, the greater the likelihood that death will result from any given assault. This finding provides the foundation for the subsequent findings that ...

Abstract

We present the rationale behind four types of laws that restrict access to firearms for those who are deemed to be a high risk for future gun violence and two types of laws that implement firearm purchase prohibitions. We also present evidence on the ...

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We conducted a review of studies on the effects of hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) on subsequent involvement in violence as a victim or perpetrator that included a nontreated control group. We identified seven randomized controlled ...

Abstract

The police have the unique capacity to preempt and deter violence and to reduce the use of firearms in violent encounters. But overly aggressive policing tactics have contributed to a fraught relationship with low-income minority communities in which gun ...

Abstract

Mass shootings in the U.S. elicit strong reactions and often are followed by demands for preventive or ameliorative policy action. Often, however, little change is made to policy, and the cycle of tragedy and passionate discourse is left to start anew. We ...

Abstract

Each year, firearms account for half of all the suicide deaths in the U.S. Research has shown that, worldwide, the most effective way to prevent suicide is so-called means safety: making the tools and methods of suicide less accessible and less lethal. In ...

Abstract

The adverse impacts of community firearm violence in the U.S. are unequally felt across geographic and various sociodemographic segments of our population. Researchers, government leaders, and the general public need to contend with the various ways in ...

Abstract

Firearm injuries are a leading cause of injury-related deaths in the U.S., but there is a dearth of federal funding for research on firearm injury prevention, compared to funding for research on other injuries and diseases. University research centers/...

Abstract

Firearms research has been hindered by a persistent lack of high-quality, reliable, and timely data. Using social media data in firearms research is, therefore, appealing: these data are large in scale, continuously provided, passively obtained, ...

Abstract

Congress passed the first federal legislation on firearms safety in decades at nearly the same moment that the Supreme Court issued its first major Second Amendment decision since 2008. It will take time to assess the effects of these actions on both gun ...