"If anything, it shows higher rates of fatal mass shootings in response to weaker regulations for concealed carry by civilians."Īnd while school systems might try to respond to the threat of mass shootings by having police officers on site or having students go through drills, "as far as I know, there's not strong research about any of those things," says Hemenway. "Well, guess what, the data do not bear that out at all," says Webster. He supports that policy but says his research doesn't show that it's linked to a reduction in this particular kind of deadly event.Īn additional common refrain after a mass shooting, he says, is a call for policies that make it easier for people to carry guns so they can defend themselves. In the wake of a mass shooting, people often argue for the need for comprehensive background checks, says Webster. What about background checks or having police at schools? "The states which had bans did much better in terms of having fewer mass shootings, and the mass shootings that occurred were much less lethal in terms of the number of people dying," says Hemenway. David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, worked with colleagues to examine the effect of banning large-capacity magazines on almost three decades of mass shootings in different states. There's another study of mass shootings showing that this kind of law seemed to have a protective effect. If a shooter has to stop and reload, victims could escape or fight back. That makes intuitive sense, says Webster, because these items allow a shooter to fire many bullets in a short amount of time without interruption. "A licensing process requires someone to, you know, directly apply and engage with law enforcement, sometimes there's safety training and other requirements," says Webster.Īnother approach that seemed to reduce deaths from mass shootings was state bans on buying large-capacity magazines or ammunition-feeding devices for semi-automatic weapons. One was a requirement that a gun purchaser go through a licensing process. "I have to acknowledge that this is a really hard and, frankly, inexact science," says Webster.ĭespite those limitations, he says, "We did find two policies that had significant protective effects in lowering rates of fatal mass shootings." They compared states to try to tease out the effect of various gun laws. He and some colleagues recently analyzed more than 30 years of data on shootings in the U.S. "That is, honestly, less than ideal from a public safety standpoint, but it does provide researchers with opportunities," says Daniel Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. One such study took advantage of the fact that in the U.S., gun laws vary from state to state. Still, some studies have findings about what might prevent mass shootings. "It's just disproportionally underfunded." Two approaches worked better than others "There is money out there, but it is really far below where it should be given the amount of injury and death and economic costs associated with gun violence," says Anestis. Short Wave How The CDC's Reluctance To Use The 'F-Word' - Firearms - Hinders Suicide Prevention
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