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Gun Policy

commentary

Will Charging the Parents of School Shooters Help Prevent School Shootings?
Implementing child-access prevention laws effectively reduces youth gun violence and should be a priority for policymakers to prevent future tragedies. Holding parents culpable could deter some gun violence if it leads more parents to rethink giving their children unsupervised access to firearms.
Sep 23, 2024

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The National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research: Five Years of Accomplishments
Just five years ago, little scientific evidence existed on the effects of gun laws in the United States. Since 2019, the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research has allocated more than $24 million to fund research projects on gun violence prevention, resulting in a windfall of new scientific results, with more to come.
Aug 6, 2024
commentary

When Mass Shooters Are Seeking Fame
What motivates mass shooters? And what might break the cycle of violence? Developing an effective policy response first requires better understanding of the factors that drive would-be attackers to kill.
Jul 13, 2023
blog

RAND Turns 75: A Look Through the Decades At World-Changing Research
From anticipating the Space Age in the 1940s to studying gun policy and COVID-19 responses in the 2020s, RAND is celebrating 75 years of research that has made a difference.
May 8, 2023
commentary

Addressing Gun Violence Requires Better Means of Measuring It
Proposals to reduce firearm violence in the United States are often controversial, sometimes because there are no data demonstrating their effectiveness. The federal government has many of the requisite tools in place to collect the data, and it does it well on a wide range of other problems. Shying away from measuring this problem may also make it more difficult to fix it.
Feb 13, 2023
blog

State of the Union 2023: Insights from RAND
In his second State of the Union address, President Joe Biden covered a wide range of issues facing the United States at home and abroad, including police violence, gun policy, Russia's war in Ukraine, and U.S. competition with China.
Feb 8, 2023
commentary

Responding to the Firearm Violence Crisis: Are Some Newly Enacted Laws Making Things Worse?
Persuasive scientific evidence is accumulating for several commonly implemented laws. Where the science is strong, lawmakers would be wise to consider it when making decisions about how to protect public safety while preserving civil liberties, including the right to bear arms.
Jan 25, 2023
commentary

Historic Research Conference Combats the Rise in Gun Violence
With new funding for gun violence prevention research, projects are beginning to produce findings. To capitalize on the new findings and help integrate the growing field of researchers working on gun violence prevention, RAND partnered with other research programs to organize the 2022 National Research Conference on Firearm Injury Prevention.
Dec 9, 2022
commentary

Better Data, Less Gun Violence
If the United States is serious about fixing the escalating problem of gun violence, the government needs to measure it. Research that is supported by new funding is overdue but will be hampered until federal and state firearm violence data systems improve.
Oct 5, 2022
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A New Era for Firearm Violence Prevention Research
Despite many remaining obstacles, the United States may soon have research that clarifies many of the unanswered questions about firearm violence and its prevention. Many critical research questions, neglected for decades, may now benefit from recent federal and private research funding that has supported a surge in research.
Oct 4, 2022
commentary

Facts Still Matter, Even If the Court Signals Otherwise
The Supreme Court's recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen threatens to render decades of scientific studies legally irrelevant. But there is still room for research to inform court decisions about firearm regulations.
Oct 4, 2022
commentary

State Gun Regulations Are a Messy Patchwork. The Supreme Court's Bruen Decision Won't Help
The Supreme Court's decision may not actually narrow the policy gap between states sharply divided over their approach to regulating guns. Rather, its result may not look very different than what we have today—a patchwork of laws that often reflect political and policy demands of individual states.
Aug 22, 2022
commentary

A Toolkit for Avoiding Mass Shootings
RAND has developed an online educational toolkit to provide practical strategies and guidance on deterring, mitigating, and responding to mass attacks. Research highlights three top ways to mitigate and/or respond to mass attacks right now: through proactive prevention, relentless follow-up, and diligent preparation and training.
Jul 14, 2022
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The Gun Laws That Work, and the Gun Laws That Don't
Are certain gun laws and regulations likely to improve or worsen public safety? At a time when many Americans are searching for solutions to the country's intolerably high rates of gun violence, social scientists can help provide answers.
May 27, 2022
essay

Exploring the Disagreement Among Gun Policy Experts
A survey asked gun policy researchers, advocates, and congressional staffers who work on gun issues for their views on policies ranging from weapon bans to stand-your-ground laws. Regardless of where they stood, they were not so dissimilar in what they thought gun policies should be trying to accomplish.
Mar 7, 2022
blog

State of the Union 2022: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine and Domestic Policy
In his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden rebuked Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, aimed to turn a page on the pandemic, and covered a wide range of domestic issues, including mental health care, prescription drug prices, and supporting veterans.
Mar 2, 2022
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The Most Popular RAND Research of 2020
Here are the RAND research projects that resonated most in 2020, a year unlike any in living memory. Topics include remote learning, election disinformation, income inequality, and more.
Dec 21, 2020
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RAND Commentary Highlights of 2020
The roughly 400 op-eds and blog posts published by RAND researchers during the year reflected an enormous variety of expertise and perspectives, from remote education to election cybersecurity to the economic harms of racial disparities. Here are 10 highlights that landed in high-profile news outlets.
Dec 18, 2020
commentary

COVID-19 Reveals Need for More Research About Guns
Recent reports suggest that Americans reacted to the pandemic by purchasing guns and ammunition in massive numbers. What does this mean for public safety? And how can policymakers ensure that this doesn't result in more injuries or deaths?
Jun 18, 2020
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New Insights on Gun Policy in America
RAND's Gun Policy in America initiative aims to establish a shared set of facts about gun policies. Recently, researchers completed an update and expansion of their synthesis of all available scientific evidence on the effects of 18 classes of gun laws.
Apr 22, 2020
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'Stand Your Ground' Laws May Be Causing More Harm Than Good
Americans have debated whether “stand your ground” laws or gun-free zones make us safer or less safe for decades. These are debates about factual matters that are, in principle, knowable. Without research on these and other topics, bad laws will inadvertently be passed or retained.
Sep 12, 2019
commentary

No Need to Wait for Congress to Address Mass Shootings
After three mass shootings in the span of a week left 53 wounded and 34 dead, pressure is mounting on Congress to respond with legislation to restrict access to guns and ammunition. But there is no need to wait for new laws. There are steps that can be taken immediately that evidence suggests could help prevent attacks or reduce the death toll from them.
Aug 23, 2019
commentary

How U.S. Gun Laws Allow Mass Shooters to Slip Through
The three most lethal domestic terrorist attacks since 9/11 were carried out with high-capacity semiautomatic weapons. None of the attackers were under 21 or were stoppable through criminal background checks. Restrictions on sales of semiautomatics would make it much harder for terrorists to obtain their most effective means of killing.
Nov 15, 2018
essay

More Research Could Help Prevent Gun Violence in America
Both sides of the gun policy debate agree on what the objectives of any policy should be. But they disagree over which policies would best achieve those goals. Current evidence for or against most gun proposals is weak, contradictory, or nonexistent. Only research can show what does—and doesn't—work.
Jul 10, 2018
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How Can the U.S. Do a Better Job of Keeping Kids Safe at School?
Many proposals to improve school safety promote the use of technology, such as metal detectors and video cameras. How effective are these devices? The evidence is mixed.
Mar 26, 2018
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How to Bring Facts into the Gun Policy Debate
As debate continues to rage over the causes and prevention of gun violence, it's worth asking how science can help lawmakers and the public resolve longstanding disagreements that have stood in the way of solutions.
Mar 9, 2018
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Domestic Warning Signs of Mass Shootings
After shootings, there is inevitably public debate over gun safety, constitutional rights, police tactics, terrorism, race, and politics. But these discussions rarely focus on a common factor among the perpetrators: a history of violence against women.
Aug 6, 2016
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Gun Violence: Where Is the Research That Might Save Lives?
Gun violence is an important public health problem that accounts for more than 33,000 deaths each year in the United States but in 1996, Congress stripped the CDC of funding for any research that could be associated with gun control advocacy. The lack of CDC funding has deterred researchers.
Nov 5, 2015
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Firearms and Gun Control: Many Questions, Some Answers
President Obama's task force on gun violence has raised the stakes in the policy debate on gun control and policy in the wake of the recent shootings in Colorado and Connecticut. Some of RAND's top researchers share what is, and what isn't, known about firearms and gun control.
Jan 17, 2013

Quoted

Mandatory evacuation orders are issued when disasters have potentially life-threatening impacts. Disaster after disaster, orders resulted in evacuations that have saved untold lives. Milton is rapidly intensifying and expected to be one of the largest hurricanes on record when it hits the United States. Staying in place could have severe, life-threatening consequences.

Aaron Clark-Ginsberg

Behavioral/Social Scientist
Source: rand.org
The mechanisms behind the apparent adverse effects of climate change on human health are not entirely understood. However, the need for pre-planning for these events to prevent poor health outcomes is clear. Especially among the most vulnerable populations, it is critical to develop and implement mitigating strategies.

Mahshid Abir

Senior Physician Policy Researcher, Professor of Policy Analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Source: rand.org