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What questions about gun violence should new research address?

17 Jan, 13 | by Brian Johnston

One of the executive actions taken today by President Obama in response to recent mass shootings was to “direct the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.” This is a major shift away from federal policy of the last 15+ years which has effectively  suppressed funding of public health research into firearm injury and gun safety. Of course, without new resources, this may amount to a frustrating unfunded mandate. It is Congress, not the executive, that controls appropriation of funds … including the budget of the CDC.

But let’s assume there will be new research into gun violence as a public heath problem. What questions should be asked? Emily Badger, writing in the Atlantic Cities blog suggests  9 Questions Researchers May Now Be Able to Answer About Urban Gun Violence. I am sure there are many more that we, as a discipline, would like to be able to answer. What research questions should be on that list? And how do we answer skeptics who assert that the CDC has no business studying gun violence – that this is a field of study better left to criminologists?

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  • Geography Lectures

    I think we first need to ask opponents to gun control what evidence would be required to change their minds.  I fear that much of the discussion and opinion is not evidence based, so I’m not sure that good research will amount to much…

  • April Zeoli

    Research is critical to understanding the problem and how to develop effective interventions, from programs to policy, to reduce the burden of gun violence in the United States. While it may seem that much of the discussion taking place right now is not evidence-based, there is a fair amount of research-based discussion occurring. For example, this week Johns Hopkins University held a Gun Policy Summit in which they invited national experts on gun violence and policy to present research and develop evidence-based policy recommendations. Those recommendations are being delivered to each and every member of Congress. Research can make a difference.

  • bjohnston

    Do you have a link to the policy recommendations that are being shared? 

  • http://twitter.com/AlisonAlison3 Alison

    To really understand the impact of the guns in the United States, I think we also need to consider that guns bought and sold in the States can be transported to other countries.  It would be interesting to understand how many firearm-related injuries in Canada and Mexico are a result of American guns.

  • http://twitter.com/CarolineFinch Caroline Finch

    I would think that a number of the key questions are the same that would apply to policy responses to other injury issues too. These are independent of “guns” as the issue. For example, what is the best way to introduce a safety regulation? What other concurrent strategies also need to be developed and implemented to ensure the policy response is
    acceptable to the target community and then adopted/adhered to by them? What would be the cost to the community of NOT investing in the policy/strategy? How could we improve current data systems to effectively monitor the policy, including both its intended and unintended consequences (good and bad)?

  • Barry Pless

    I commented previously (from my Ipad) but it seems to have disappeared. If,however, it turns up and this proves to be a double posting, please forgive me. What I think I wrote previously is that the research that I believe is desperately needed is why the culture, the ethos, or whatever it is, has made guns so deeply rooted in American culture and what can be done to change this. And when I say ‘guns’ I mean, of course, their use to kill others. I dont think the second amendment is the answer; just because it permitted guns to be owned did not mean that it had to be embraced in the manner it has. No other country where gun ownership is equally widespread is so violent. What is it about Americans that makes them so different in this respect? Apart from the relative neglect of mental illness and the folly of the movement of the mentally ill from institutions to the community, the problem extends much more widely and deeply. I have a hunch the socio economic disparities are part of the answer and it is noteworthy that in some respects this is embedded in the culture. The notion that the very poor can pull themselves up and rise to great wealth is a persistent myth. I don’t know the answer but do wonder what others think. The very fact that Congress was able to pass legislation that prohibited research into gun violence must be a clue.

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