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Gun restriction laws DON'T lead to decrease in homicides, nationwide analysis shows
Gun law restrictions have no impact on the rate of homicides between states, a study has shown.
Researchers at Duke University compared gun laws across the US, including states with and without background checks, 'stand your ground' laws and safe storage requirements.
They found there was no difference in homicide rates in states with or without firearm laws and restrictive access, a finding they said 'surprised' them.
Since 2020, firearms have ranked as the leading cause of death for children under 18 years old, accounting for more fatalities than traffic accidents and cancer combined.
However, the regulations were a lifesaver in a different way, reducing the number of pediatric suicides in states like California and Washington, DC that had safe storage laws and mandatory waiting periods to purchase a gun.
Firearms are the leading cause of death for children under 18 years old, with the US accounting for more than 90 percent of pediatric firearm homicide deaths in Western countries worldwide
The researchers are now calling for more gun law restrictions to protect children from high mortality rates.
They believe that more restrictive laws would 'promote a responsible gun ownership culture' that 'could help create an environment that protects children from firearm-involved homicides.'
States with stricter gun laws have ranked as having higher firearm homicides than others in the country, including Illinois which has the 12th highest rate of gun homicides in the US while 92 percent of gun deaths in Washington, DC are homicides.
Current gun law restrictions in the US aren’t having an impact on the number of homicides in the country, the researchers said, adding that the reason is unclear and more research needs to be conducted across all 50 states 'that can be used to guide future policy decisions.'
However, the existing regulations have reduced the suicide rates which the study's authors said is likely caused by a mandatory waiting period, or ‘cooling period,’ that gives the applicant time to think through their decision.
Gun ownership in the US increased by 28 percent from 1994 to 2023, with more than 82 million Americans owning at least one firearm as of last year.
The researchers focused on firearm suicide and homicide rates in children because it is the leading cause of death and there hasn't been enough research to determine whether existing gun laws are protecting them.
Researchers looked at 36 gun laws on the RAND State Firearm Law Database including background checks, but found there was no difference in homicide rates in states with and without firearm laws and restrictive access.
The existing gun laws studied included stricter background checks, mandatory waiting periods, restrictions for people at risk of harming themselves or others and a class requirement to learn how to store the gun and safely use it.
‘But there are very few of these laws, and they only appear to work for suicide, not for homicide,’ said Krista Haines, the study’s lead author and assistant professor in Surgery and Population Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine.
‘Our study clearly points to a need for more laws and controlled access to these guns, especially given the high rates of death among children in the United States.’
The researchers reported that 10,278 children were killed by a firearm in the US between 2009 and 2020.
They found handguns accounted for 807 homicides, 457 were committed using large firearms including rifles and shotguns and unspecified guns caused the remaining 9,014 pediatric deaths.
‘It was surprising to me that no laws appear to be impacting the rates of homicide in children, not even safe access,’ Haines said. ‘It’s sad and shocking.’
The rate of gun fatalities vary from state, with the highest number of homicides occurring in Washington, DC (22.3 per 100,000 people), Mississippi (21.2) and Louisiana (18.4).
Meanwhile, gun laws have decreased suicide rates in states with the strongest gun safety laws, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study found that there were 6,735 firearm suicides for children under 18 - 1,566 involved handguns, 1,184 were by large firearms and 3.985 were from other unspecified guns.
States with stricter gun laws like California and New York have had a four percent drop in pediatric firearm suicide rates nationally while states with fewer or no regulations like Texas saw a countrywide increase of 39 percent.
However, the researchers revealed that states with 'stand your ground' laws had higher suicide rates than those without those laws, but those with a waiting or cooling off period had a significant decrease in pediatric firearm-involved suicides.
Gun ownership is on the rise in the US and this data shows the drastic increase in the number of households that have at least one gun between 1994 and 2023
Gun ownership in the US increased by 28 percent from 1994 to 2023, with more than 82 million Americans owning at least one firearm as of last year
Based on the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), there are an estimated 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the US, but only six million are registered.
Pediatric firearm deaths have risen since 2014, as a reported 71 percent of homicides and 41 percent of suicides are firearm-related.
‘Approximately 4.6 million children in the U.S. live in homes with at least one unlocked, loaded firearm, further emphasizing the need for effective public health strategies and responsible gun ownership,’ the study said.
‘The need for a continued evaluation of the efficacy of current laws and further exploration of public health prevention measures remains crucial.’
States with stricter gun laws like California and New York saw a four percent drop in pediatric firearm suicide rates nationally while states with fewer regulations like Texas saw a countrywide increase of 39 percent
President Joe Biden has called for more gun restrictions and regulations including universal background checks for firearm purchases and red-flag laws
This data shows that six in 10 Americans want more gun restrictions in the US as the new study revealed that current regulations aren't preventing pediatric firearm homicides
The study comes as President Joe Biden has called for more gun restrictions and regulations including universal background checks for firearm purchases and red-flag laws that allows the temporary confiscation of a person’s gun if they’re deemed a threat to themselves or others.
Meanwhile, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) has fought to overturn a rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that expands the list of gun sellers who would be required to run background checks for gun purchases.
Among the 38 states with available data, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have the highest pediatric firearm mortality as of last year - more than 50 percent of residents in all three states own a gun.
‘This is a very early study, and we need to continue to use this kind of research to advance better policies,’ said Suresh Agarwal, the study’s co-author and chief of the division of Trauma, Acute, and Critical Care Surgery at Duke.
‘What we have in place now has limited impact, particularly with regard to homicides.’