全球智库信息集成服务系统

Scientific evidence on gun policies' effects is modest but supports a few conclusions

• Of more than 200 combinations of policies and outcomes, surprisingly few have been the subject of methodologically rigorous investigation. Notably, research into five of the examined outcomes is either unavailable or almost entirely inconclusive, and three of these five outcomes represent issues of particular concern to gun owners or gun industry stakeholders.
• Available evidence supports the conclusion that child-access prevention laws, or safe storage laws, reduce self-inflicted fatal or nonfatal firearm injuries, including unintentional and intentional self-injuries, among youth.
• There is supportive evidence that stand-your-ground laws are associated with increases in firearm homicides and moderate evidence that they increase the total number of homicides.
• There is moderate evidence that state laws prohibiting gun ownership by individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders decrease total and firearm-related intimate partner homicides.
• There is moderate evidence that waiting periods reduce firearm suicides and total homicides and limited evidence that they reduce total suicides and firearm homicides.
• No studies meeting the authors' inclusion criteria have examined the effects of gun-free zones, laws allowing armed staff in kindergarten through grade 12 schools, or required reporting of lost or stolen firearms.

In this report, part of the RAND Corporation's Gun Policy in America initiative, researchers seek objective information about what the scientific literature reveals about the likely effects of various gun laws. In this second edition of an earlier work, the authors add five gun policies to the 13 examined in the original analysis and expand the study time frame to incorporate a larger body of research. With those adjustments, the authors synthesize the available scientific data on the effects of 18 policies on firearm deaths, violent crime, the gun industry, defensive gun use, and other outcomes. By highlighting where scientific evidence is accumulating, the authors hope to build consensus around a shared set of facts that have been established through a transparent, nonpartisan, and impartial review process. In so doing, they also illuminate areas where more and better information could make important contributions to establishing fair and effective gun policies.

• Part A

  Introduction and Methods

  • Chapter One

    Introduction

  • Chapter Two

    Methods

• Part B

  Evidence for the Effects of Policies Regulating Who May Legally Own, Purchase, or Possess Firearms

  • Chapter Three

    Minimum Age Requirements

  • Chapter Four

    Prohibitions Associated with Mental Illness

  • Chapter Five

    Prohibitions Associated with Domestic Violence

  • Chapter Six

    Surrender of Firearms by Prohibited Possessors

  • Chapter Seven

    Extreme Risk Protection Orders

• Part C

  Evidence for the Effects of Policies Regulating Firearm Sales and Transfers

  • Chapter Eight

    Background Checks

  • Chapter Nine

    Licensing and Permitting Requirements

  • Chapter Ten

    Waiting Periods

  • Chapter Eleven

    Firearm Safety Training Requirements

  • Chapter Twelve

    Lost or Stolen Firearm Reporting Requirements

  • Chapter Thirteen

    Firearm Sales Reporting, Recording, and Registration Requirements

  • Chapter Fourteen

    Bans on the Sale of Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines

  • Chapter Fifteen

    Bans on Low-Quality Handguns

• Part D

  Evidence for the Effects of Policies Regulating the Legal Use, Storage, or Carrying of Firearms

  • Chapter Sixteen

    Stand-Your-Ground Laws

  • Chapter Seventeen

    Child-Access Prevention Laws

  • Chapter Eighteen

    Concealed-Carry Laws

  • Chapter Nineteen

    Gun-Free Zones

  • Chapter Twenty

    Laws Allowing Armed Staff in K-12 Schools

• Part E

  Summary of Findings and Recommendations

  • Chapter Twenty-One

    Summary and Conclusions

• Appendix A

  Changes from the First Edition of This Report