The research behind the RAND Gun Policy in America initiative is fully documented in several peer-reviewed research products. These include the methods and results from RAND's comprehensive review of studies examining the effects of gun policies, and analysis of the results from a survey of gun policy experts about the likely effects of gun laws. To help advance research on the effects of state gun policies, the RAND team also developed a new data set of state laws and their variants from 1979 to 2016, along with a brief paper documenting the methods behind the database. In addition, the team published a short technical report analyzing the methods and findings from a study of U.S. gun legislation and firearm mortality.
In 2020, the research review was updated to include evidence from more-recent studies and expanded to include studies dating back to 1995. Five new classes of gun policies were also examined. RAND has also developed state-level estimates of household firearm ownership from 1980 to 2016.
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State Firearm Laws After Bruen 2022
The Supreme Court's decision in Bruen is a major change to Second Amendment jurisprudence and could lead to significant changes in the U.S. firearm regulations. The authors describe how state regulations will now be evaluated by lower courts.
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Using National Instant Criminal Background Check Data for Gun Policy Analysis: A Discussion of Available Data and Their Limitations 2022
In this tool, researchers provide detailed information about data associated with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and discuss the data's strengths and weaknesses for various gun policy evaluation objectives.
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Geographic Disparities in Rising Rates of Firearm-Related Homicide 2022
Our study shows that the rise since 2014 in firearms homicides is concentrated in south-central and midwestern states, and in American Indian and Alaskan Natives, and Black communities, thereby exacerbating existing disparities.
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Personal Firearm Storage in the United States: Recent Estimates, Patterns, and Effectiveness of Interventions 2022
This report describes what is meant by safe firearm storage, provides estimates of U.S. gun owners' storage practices from representative surveys, and presents research on the effectiveness of interventions to change such practices.
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Development of the RAND State Firearm Law Database and Supporting Materials 2022
Part of RAND's Gun Policy in America initiative, the RAND State Firearm Law Database is a longitudinal data set of state firearm laws that is free to the public to support improved analysis and understanding of the effects of various laws.
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Mass Attacks Defense Toolkit 2022
RAND researchers created this tool to advance efforts to prevent and reduce intentional, interpersonal firearm violence and public mass attacks in the United States.
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Suggestions for Estimating the Effects of State Gun Policies: Commentary on Four Methodological Problems in the Current Literature 2022
In this report, the authors discuss four common methodological problems that they observed in the literature evaluating gun policies and offer suggestions for how future research on gun policies could be improved.
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The Magnitude and Sources of Disagreement Among Gun Policy Experts: Second Edition 2021
This report describes combined results from two fieldings of a survey of gun policy experts designed to identify areas of agreement and whether disagreements stem from assumptions about the policies' effects or from differences in policy objectives.
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Inpatient Hospitalizations for Firearm Injury: Estimating State-Level Rates from 2000 to 2016 2021
RAND researchers developed a database of state-level estimates of inpatient hospitalizations for firearm injury. This document describes the methods used to construct the estimates and provides technical documentation to facilitate database use.
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Contemporary Issues in Gun Policy: Essays from the RAND Gun Policy in America Project 2021
This report, part of RAND's Gun Policy in America project, presents essays that synthesize the available scientific data on topics pertinent to firearm policy in the United States, such as mass shootings and firearm and ammunition taxes.
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Changes in Firearm Mortality Following the Implementation of State Laws Regulating Firearm Access and Use 2020
Laws that regulate children's access to firearms, the carrying of a concealed firearm, and the use of a firearm in self-defense, are associated with an 11% decrease in the firearms-related death rate.
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Understanding and Using Research on Gun Policy in America: An Interdisciplinary Unit Plan Based on RAND's Gun Policy in America Website, Suggested Grades 10–12 2020
As part of the Gun Policy in America initiative, RAND researchers developed a unit plan centered on the evidence-based resources on the project website. The unit, designed for grades 10-12, helps students understand existing gun policy research.
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The Science of Gun Policy: A Critical Synthesis of Research Evidence on the Effects of Gun Policies in the United States, Second Edition 2020
This report, the second edition of an earlier work, synthesizes the available scientific evidence for the effects of various firearm policies on firearm deaths, violent crime, the gun industry, defensive gun use, and other outcomes.
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State-Level Estimates of Household Firearm Ownership 2020
As part of the Gun Policy in America initiative, researchers developed annual, state-level estimates of household firearm ownership from 1980 to 2016, which should help further research on the relationship between firearm ownership and key outcomes.
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Scientific Evidence on the Effects of State Gun Laws 2019
Testimony presented before the Pennsylvania State Senate Judiciary Committee on September 25, 2019.
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Reducing Disagreements on Gun Policy Through Scientific Research and an Improved Data Infrastructure 2019
Testimony presented before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on March 7, 2019.
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The Science of Gun Policy: A Critical Synthesis of Research Evidence on the Effects of Gun Policies in the United States 2018
This report synthesizes the available scientific evidence on the effects of various firearm policies on firearm deaths, violent crime, the gun industry, participation in hunting and sport shooting, and other outcomes.
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The Magnitude and Sources of Disagreement Among Gun Policy Experts 2018
This report, part of RAND's Gun Policy in America initiative, describes results from a survey of gun policy experts to identify where there are shared or divergent beliefs about gun policies and where disagreements concern facts rather than values.
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Evaluating Methods to Estimate the Effect of State Laws on Firearm Deaths: A Simulation Study 2018
As part of the RAND Corporation's Gun Policy in America initiative, the authors use simulations to assess the performance of a wide range of statistical models used to estimate the effects of state gun policies on firearm deaths.
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Evaluating Methods and Findings from a Study of State Gun Policies 2016
A RAND study team reviewed an article on the effects of state firearm laws and found problems in its methods and findings. This report provides an account of the errors detected and statistical support for the study team's conclusions.
