California Firearm-Related Deaths Not Affected by Background Checks

by
posted on December 7, 2018
girl-range-745.jpg (1)

A joint effort by research organizations has found after a study during a 10-year period that the rates of firearm-related death did not change after comprehensive background check and violent misdemeanor polices were passed in California.

Posted on Oct. 15 by the journal “Annals of Epidemiology”, the Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) at UC Davis and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health compared the observed annual firearm homicide and suicide rates once legislation had been passed 1991 with data starting from that year. The rates were compared to data gathered from 32 control states that did not have the misdemeanor and background check policies and did not pass other firearm policies during that same time period.

Garen Wintemute, senior author on the study and professor of emergency medicine and director of VPRP, was quoted stating firearm suicide rates had decreased nearly 11 percent a decade after policy implementation was lower than projected. The researchers noted non-firearm-related suicides across the board had dropped overall. The study also found there was little difference between firearm-related homicide rates before and after the 10 years, once policy was implemented.

This finding is incongruent with current studies by disagreeing comprehensive background check policies reduced firearm homicides and suicides in Connecticut, while Missouri, which does not have permit-to-purchase policies and repealed the background check, saw increases in these two types of suicide-related death. Incomplete background-check records, inadequate criminal and mental health records, incomplete compliance with the laws and the small sample size of the population may all be contributing factors to the researchers’ findings.

Latest

John Broomes
John Broomes

Court Rules Against Federal Machinegun Law

A district court in Kansas ruled in August that the federal law prohibiting the possession of machineguns”failed the test set out in Bruen.

NRA Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief in Challenge to ATF’s “Frame or Receiver” Rule

The Final Rule was challenged, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the ATF exceeded its authority by essentially rewriting the law.

A Message On NRA’s Compliance

The NRA is committed to restoring the members’ trust and confidence.

Gun Skills | Carry-Rotation Best Practices

Carry rotation can be a contentious topic. While some believe you should only carry one gun all the time, others maintain that there are compelling reasons wherein changing might be necessary.

The Biden Administration Wants to Do This on Its Way Out

Biden’s DOI is set to close more than a million acres of public land in Utah to recreational shooting.

The Armed Citizen® November 8, 2024

True stories of the right to keep and bear arms



Get the best of America's 1st Freedom delivered to your inbox.