Philip J. Cook; Jens Ludwig
University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 151, No. 4.
(Apr., 2003),
pp. 1329-1340.
...the 'goal' of this article...is to develop sound information that at least some voters and authorities will find helpful.
AND THERE IN LIES THE RUB. The real challenge of any government, the United Nations, any advocacy group and any peoples is to find the facts and act on them. This may very well be a global issue encompassing casual weapon possession all the way to arming rebels and al Qaeda. The conversation has to go on and has to proceed in a manner that will result in a 'resolve' to control violence of small arms at all levels. What needs to be harnessed is a determination to stop the 'exploitation' of death and the promotion of gun sales when mass killings and high crime numbers are linked to personal possession as a means of personal protection. I don't find it helpful when police are minimized in their importance in resolving issues of domestic violence, which school and work place violence is an extension of. I also don't find it helpful to provide weapons 'out of context' in society that are dangerous to law enforcement as well as citizens.
Philip J. Cook
Crime and Justice, Vol. 14.
(1991), pp. 1-71.
Over 30,000 deaths each year result from gunshot wounds. Two decades of systematic research on weapons and personal violence indicate a pervasive influence of weapon type on the patterns and outcomes of violent encounters. The likelihood that an assault will result in death depends (among other things) on the lethality of the weapon. The evidence that weapon lethality affects the likelihood of death in suicide is somewhat weaker. Assailants' weapon choice depends on a number of factors, including the relative vulnerability of the intended victim and the general availability of firearms. National Crime Survey data indicate that guns are used only about 80,000 times each year in self-defense.
Jeffrey A. Miron
Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 44, No. 2, Part 2,
Guns, Crime, and Safety: A Conference Sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute and the Center for Law, Economics, and Public Policy at Yale Law School.
(Oct., 2001), pp. 615-633.
Violence rates differ dramatically across countries. A widely held view is that these differences reflect differences in gun control and/or gun availability, and certain pieces of evidence appear consistent with this hypothesis. A more detailed examination of this evidence suggests that the role of gun control/availability is not compelling. This more detailed examination, however, does not provide an alternative explanation for cross-country differences in violence. This paper suggests that differences in the enforcement of drug prohibition are an important factor in explaining differences in violence rates across countries. To determine the validity of this hypothesis, the paper examines data on homicide rates, drug prohibition enforcement, and gun control policy for broad range of countries. The results suggest a role for drug prohibition enforcement in explaining cross-country differences in violence, and they provide an alternative explanation for some of the apparent effects of gun control/availability on violence rates.
Jeffrey Fagan; Deanna L. Wilkinson
Crime and Justice, Vol. 24, Youth Violence. (1998),
pp. 105-188.
While youth violence has always been a critical part of delinquency, the modern epidemic is marked by high rates of gun violence. Adolescents in cities possess and carry guns on a large scale, guns are often at the scene of youth violence, and guns often are used. Guns play a central role in initiating, sustaining, and elevating the epidemic of youth violence. The demand for guns among youth was fueled by an "ecology of danger," comprising street gangs, expanding drug markets with high intrinsic levels of violence, high rates of adult violence and fatalities, and cultural styles of gun possession and carrying. Guns became symbols of respect, power, identity, and manhood to a generation of youth, in addition to having strategic value for survival. The relationship between guns and youth violence is complex. The effects of guns are mediated by structural factors that increase the youth demand for guns, the available supply, and culture and scripts which teach kids lethal ways to use guns.
