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Firearms

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Project
Informing the Gun Policy Debate
RAND's Gun Policy in America initiative provides information on what scientific research can tell us about the effects of gun laws. Our goal is to establish a shared set of facts that will improve public discussions and support the development of fair and effective gun policies.
Jan 10, 2023
Tool
The RAND State Firearm Law Database
As part of the Gun Policy in America initiative, RAND developed a longitudinal data set of state and District of Columbia firearm laws from 1979 to January 2021 to support improved analysis and understanding of the effects of gun laws.
Jun 28, 2022

Explore Firearms

Journal Article
Techno-polymers in Firearms Manufacturing: Challenges and Implications for Marking, Record-Keeping, and Tracing
This paper provides an overview of the key elements related to the use of industrial polymers in arms manufacturing, highlighting the challenges that such materials pose to the effective implementation of the ITI and the Firearms Protocol.
May 1, 2015
Journal Article
Prevalence and Correlates of Firearm Ownership in the Homes of Fifth Graders: Birmingham, AL, Houston, TX, and Los Angeles, CA
Firearms in the home are associated with increased injury risk, especially when loaded and unlocked. In this study, 5,010 fifth-graders and their caregivers in three U.S. metropolitan areas participated in the 2004-2006 Healthy Passages study on adolescent health.
Jun 1, 2014
Commentary
Want to Create Problems? Arm the TSA
With its current 47,000 screeners, an armed TSA would become the federal government's largest armed entity outside of the military. In the eyes of many, arming TSA screeners would change the image of the organization from a service aimed at guaranteeing safe air travel to an unwanted imposition of federal authority.
Nov 7, 2013
Commentary
Airport Violence—Not a New Phenomenon
Shootings at airports are nothing new, writes Brian Michael Jenkins. In fact, they have regularly occurred worldwide in recent years. The motives have included terrorism, crime, and mental illness.
Nov 2, 2013
Announcement
At 65, RAND Continues to Make a Difference
To celebrate our first 60 years, we created 60 Ways RAND Has Made a Difference, an online book to illustrate our most notable contributions. On our 65th birthday, we provide five of the most recent ways in which we at RAND are proud to have made a difference.
May 13, 2013
Commentary
Guns in Homes: A Health Hazard
An ample body of evidence indicates that the benefits of keeping a gun for protection are substantially outweighed by the associated risks, writes Art Kellermann.
Mar 25, 2013
Blog
The State of the Union 2013
The 2013 SOTU address will be remembered for its impassioned call for greater gun control just two months after Sandy Hook. But President Obama's second-term agenda can be characterized by its sheer breadth, reflecting the broad range of policy challenges facing the U.S. today.
Feb 13, 2013
Commentary
Firearms and Gun Control: Many Questions, Some Answers
Guns claim the lives of thousands of people in America every year. But the problem of gun violence is larger and much more complex than mass shootings. What does research say about how to reduce firearm-related deaths?
Jan 17, 2013
Commentary
Can Improved Mental Health Care Prevent Gun Crimes? The Truth Is, We Don't Know
If policymakers and the public expect the mental health community to play a significant role in preventing future incidents like Newtown, the mental health research agenda must become a higher national priority in future federal funding decisions, writes Terry Schell.
Jan 17, 2013
Commentary
Accounting for Risk of Violent Death
As a Southerner who learned to shoot at an early age, I've never had a problem with guns. But emergency-room doctors like me also know how much damage they can cause if misused or allowed to fall into the wrong hands, writes Arthur Kellermann.
Jan 7, 2013
Commentary
Responding to Newtown
Art Kellermann reviews what is known from broad outlines of the Newtown attack and past research on gun violence to offer some preliminary thoughts to the Obama Administration's task force and the public.
Dec 26, 2012
Commentary
Silencing the Science on Gun Research
The United States has long relied on public health science to improve the safety, health, and lives of its citizens. Perhaps the same straightforward, problem-solving approach that worked well in other circumstances can help the nation meet the challenge of firearm violence, writes Arthur Kellermann.
Dec 21, 2012
Commentary
Shifting the Burden of Mental Health Care: Helping Families
In our national conversation on mental health, we should remember the role of families when thinking about treatment and ensure that our policies open up opportunities to support parents, siblings and relatives, and enhance their capacity for care, writes Ramya Chari.
Dec 21, 2012
Commentary
In Connecticut, Recovery and Healing Will Take Time
With an event like this, “recovery” doesn't mean a return to normal, because lives have been permanently altered. Recovery can only mean finding a new normal, a new path forward. And schools, those places of safety and healthy development, can help with that process, by providing a structure and community to support healing, writes Lisa Jaycox.
Dec 20, 2012
Report
The Impact of Gun-Law Messaging on Gun Purchases
A public safety message aimed at improving gun law awareness was found to have an effect on new gun buyers' behaviors, particularly in regards to reports of stolen guns, which more than doubled as a result.
Jul 26, 2011
Report
Reducing Gun Violence
An initiative that successfully reduced gun violence in Boston was adapted for a section of East Los Angeles with prevalent gang activity. Though not implemented as planned, the intervention helped reduce violent and gang crime in the targeted districts, both during and immediately after implementation.
Dec 22, 2010
Journal Article
The Effect of Urban Street Gang Densities on Small Area Homicide Incidence in a Large Metropolitan County, 1994-2002
The presence of street gangs has been hypothesized as influencing overall levels of violence in urban communities through a process of gun-drug diffusion and crosstype homicide.
Jan 1, 2009
Research Brief
Assessing the New York City Police Department Firearm Training and Firearm-Discharge Review Process
This research brief summarizes the results of an assessment of the NYPD's firearm training and firearm-discharge review process, including a review of reflexive shootings, officers involved in shootings, and less-than-lethal force options.
Jun 3, 2008
Report
Assessing NYPD’s Firearm Training and Firearm Discharge Investigations
More opportunities for thorough training, closer monitoring of lower-rated police officers, and incorporating non-lethal devices can help further reduce the already minute probability that an NYPD officer fires their weapon.
Jun 1, 2008
Report
Strategies for Disrupting Illegal Firearm Markets: A Case Study of Los Angeles
Law enforcement can analyze patterns in crime-gun data to trace illicit firearm acquisition, use community-based interventions to stem the illegal flow, and use retail ammunition-purchase records in identifying prohibited firearm possessors.
Apr 24, 2008

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Researcher Spotlight

Danielle Sobol

Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND, and Ph.D. Student, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Danielle Sobol (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in the Research, Analysis, and Design stream at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy researcher at RAND. Her research interests include criminal justice and policing reform, social protection, and behavioral health care.
Terry L. Schell

Senior Behavioral Scientist

Terry L. Schell is a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. Much of his research has focused on violence and psychological trauma. This includes work documenting posttraumatic stress disorder among civilian survivors of trauma and military service members; estimating the effects of…

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