Every few weeks there seems to be a study that shows gun safety laws, even minimal ones, have an impact on firearm-related deaths. Shocking, since the NRA has always told us that the trick to ending gun violence is more guns, not fewer or regulated guns. Researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) have released what is purportedly the first study to analyze state gun laws side by side. Controlling for “a wide range of state-level factors known to be associated with higher rates of homicide and suicide,” the researchers found that states with universal background checks on all gun sales had 15 percent lower homicide rates than those that did not. That’s not a small number. In addition, states that included “violent misdemeanors” on their no-guns background check list had 18 percent lower homicide rates.
The majority of Americans support stricter gun safety laws.
Meanwhile, Gallup shows over 90 percent of Americans asked favoring universal background checks for gun ownership.
There is a need not only to enact more regulations on guns, but also to provide more education about and enforcement of the few laws that do exist.