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 More than 31,600 people died by guns in the U.S. in 2010, a rate of
10.1 deaths for each 100,000 residents. Hawaii had the lowest death
rate – 3.21 for each 100,000 people – while Alaska had the highest –
20.3 for every 100,000 residents.
Laws that require firearm identification through ballistic
fingerprinting – essentially giving every bullet a unique mark that
can be traced back to its owner – could reduce gun deaths by 84
percent, researchers calculated.
Background checks for ammunition would curb gun deaths by 82
percent, while background checks for firearm purchases could
decrease fatalities by 61 percent, researchers estimated.
“Ballistic fingerprinting and background checks were found to be
highly associated with reduced gun death rates,” said lead study
author Bindu Kalesan of Boston University School of Medicine.
“These findings underscore the importance of relevant and effective
gun laws and particularly the potential impact of national level
background checks to reduce gun deaths,” Kalesan added by email.
To calculate how much state laws might help reduce gun deaths,
Kalesan and colleagues analyzed 25 state laws implemented in 2009
and fatalities in those states in 2010.
They also looked at other factors that can influence firearm
fatalities, including gun ownership rates, murder rates and
unemployment rates.
Nine types of laws were associated with reductions in mortality,
including licenses for sellers, requiring dealers to keep sale
records, safety training for buyers and involving law enforcement in
issuing gun permits.
Another nine laws were associated with increased mortality,
including so-called “stand your ground” policies that allow people
to use lethal force in self-defense against a perceived threat.
Seven laws, meanwhile, didn’t appear to have any meaningful impact
on gun deaths, the study found.
If the three most effective state gun laws requiring background
checks and ballistic imprinting were implemented nationwide,
researchers estimated that the national mortality rate – 10.1 deaths
for every 100,000 people in 2010 – would plunge to 0.16 fatalities
for each 100,000 individuals.
Limitations of the study include the lack of data on any state gun
laws implemented since 2009, the authors note in The Lancet. They
also lacked state-level data on gun storage, which can influence
fatalities because unlocked guns are often involved in suicides and
accidental shootings.
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It’s also possible that other variables linked to gun deaths and
excluded from the analysis might have influenced the results – such
as poverty, alcohol consumption, mental health and city living –
David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research
Center in Boston, noted in an accompanying editorial.
Even so, background checks in particular have been linked to lower
fatalities before, Hemenway said.
“I’m not at all surprised by the background check finding,” Hemenway
said by email. “There have been other studies finding that stronger
gun laws are associated with lower gun death rates, and a few that
have specifically indicated that background checks or very similar
laws are associated with lower rates of gun death.”
Regardless of the legal landscape, there are also precautions gun
owners can take to reduce the odds that their weapons will be
involved in a fatality, said Dr. Stephen Hargarten, director of the
Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin in
Milwaukee.
“Trigger locks, lock boxes, and proper securing of guns in the home
are all very important but challenging to do every day,” Hargarten,
who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
“Just like using seat belts, it’s an active prevention strategy
requiring constant active behavior to achieve success,” Hargarten
added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/22pGhsS and http://bit.ly/1Rndrr8 The Lancet,
online March 10, 2016.
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