Researchers reviewed thousands of gun policy studies and teased out a consensus

The findings on stand-your-ground and child access prevention laws are conclusive, the report says


By
Christopher Ingraham

April 23, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

Gun control discussions often get mired in competing academic claims regarding the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of various policy options.

Do concealed carry laws increase violent crime or make communities safer? Do assault weapon bans reduce mass shootings or do they have no effect? Do background checks reduce homicides and suicides or are they ineffective?

With so many disparate findings swirling about, it can be difficult to determine where the balance of evidence lies. But a new report from Rand Corp., a nonprofit think tank, has distilled reams of gun policy research published since 1995 to tease out the scholarly consensus.

In other words, they’ve waded through thousands of findings so you (and your elected representatives) don’t have to.

( excerpt) First, there was a clear consensus (indicated by three or more high-quality studies in agreement) that stand-your-ground laws, which allow people to use guns to defend themselves in public even if retreating is an option, result in higher overall rates of gun homicide. The higher rates aren’t simply from “bad guys” getting shot; the research shows that the additional deaths created by stand-your-ground laws far surpass the documented cases of defensive gun use in the United States.

There was also a broad consensus that child access prevention laws, which set requirements for how guns must be stored at home, are effective in reducing self-inflicted gun injuries among children and adults.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/23/definitive-guide-which-gun-safety-policies-actually-work/