Does Gun Control Reduce Violent Crime?

Abstract

Do gun control laws reduce violence? To answer this question, a city-level cross-sectional analysis was performed on data pertaining to every U.S. city with a population of at least 25,000 in 1990 ( n = 1,078), assessing the impact of 19 major types of gun control laws, and controlling for gun ownership levels and numerous other possible confounders. Models were estimated using instrumental variables (IVs) regression to address endogeneity of gun levels due to reverse causality. Results indicate that gun control laws generally show no evidence of effects on crime rates, possibly because gun levels do not have a net positive effect on violence rates. Although a minority of laws seem to show effects, they are as likely to imply violence-increasing effects as violence-decreasing effects. There were, however, a few noteworthy exceptions: requiring a license to possess a gun and bans on purchases of guns by alcoholics appear to reduce rates of both homicide and robbery. Weaker evidence suggests that bans on gun purchases by criminals and on possession by mentally ill persons may reduce assault rates, and that bans on gun purchase by criminals may also reduce robbery rates.

Expanding the Castle: Explaining Stand Your Ground Legislation in American States, 2005–2012

“…Here, the use of a fixed-effects approach, which focuses solely on within-unit change, reveals that there is no correlation between crime rates and states’ adoption of SYG laws. The existing literature often focuses more on the effect of gun possession or gun-control policies on crime (Cook and Donohue 2017; Kleck 2004, 2017; Kleck, Kovandzic, and Bellows 2016; Webster, Krifasi, and Vernick 2014). But, it is equally important to learn if crime rate has any influence on how legislations that expands the right to carry guns, or provides situational immunity to gun violence on the grounds of self-defense.…”

State-Level Firearm Transfer Policy

“…Age-adjusted firearm suicide rate per 100,000 per state was used as a proxy measure of firearm ownership by state. This approach has been used in numerous previous studies (Azrael, Cook, & Miller, 2004; Kleck et al, 2016). See Table 1 for descriptive statistics.…”

“…Most research in this area has examined a single law while controlling for the effect of other laws. For instance, legal firearm transfer prohibitors such as having been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence (Vigdor & Mercy, 2006; Zeoli & Webster, 2010), having been indicted for a felony (Wright, Wintemute, & Rivara, 1999), meeting the qualifications of a mental health prohibition in Connecticut (Swanson et al, 2013), and sale of guns to “alcoholics or persons under the influence” (Kleck, Kovandzi, & Bellows, 2016) have been found to be associated with less crime.…”

“…The effect of waiting periods also has received mixed support. Some research indicates that it is associated with less firearm violence (Ludwig & Cook, 2000), while other work has found no association (e.g., Kleck et al, 2016). Firearm homicide was marginally lower among adults 21 years of age or older when a background check was initiated at the lowest level of government (i.e., local; Sumner, Layde, & Guse, 2008).…”

The Connection Between Legal and Illegal Firearms Markets: How the Change in Gun Control Policy in Brazil Intensified This Link

“…The diversion of legally acquired firearms to illegal markets is not a novelty and has been the subject of studies both in Brazil (Alerj 2015;Bandeira 2019;Langeani 2022;Santos 2021) and in other countries (Andrade et al 2020;Braga et al 2002). The connection between legal and illegal firearms markets has always existed, and with more permissive legislation, it tends to intensify (Fleegler et al 2013;Grinshteyn & Hemenway 2016;Kalesan et al 2016;Kleck & Kovandzic 2016;Lanza 2014;Santanella-Tenorio et al 2016).…”