Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-25T11:47:30.357Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Background Checks for all Gun Buyers and Gun Violence Restraining Orders: State Efforts to Keep Guns from High-Risk Persons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Jon S. Vernick ,
Ted Alcorn  and
Joshua Horwitz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There were more than 36,000 firearm-related deaths in the U.S. in 2015. Under federal law, a background check is required only for gun purchases from licensed dealers. Research suggests that some persons prohibited from owning a gun turn to private sellers, including those identified online, to attempt to obtain a firearm. State-level approaches to make it more difficult for high-risk persons to purchase or possess firearms include universal background check (UBC) and gun violence restraining order (GVRO) laws. UBC laws, on the books in 18 states as of the end of 2016, can reduce both homicide and suicide rates. After Colorado adopted a UBC law in 2013, the number of background checks conducted by private sellers for sales occurring at places other than gun shows steadily increased. GVRO laws give law enforcement and families the authority to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from an individual who presents a danger to himself or others during times of crisis, regardless of whether that person has been diagnosed with a mental illness. California enacted a GVRO law in 2014. Data are emerging to suggest the effectiveness of GVRO-type laws at averting suicides and providing an entryway to services.

Type
Symposium Articles
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 45 , Issue S1: 2016 Public Health Law Conference — Lead, Connect, Innovate: Strategies for Achieving Health Equity , Spring 2017 , pp. 98 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Local Authority to Regulate Firearms, available at <http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/other-laws/local-authority/> (last visited December 21, 2016).+(last+visited+December+21,+2016).>Google Scholar
18 U.S.C.§ 922 (2016).Google Scholar
Varberg, J. C., Frandsen, R. J., Durst, J. M., Buskirk, T. D., and Lee, A. D., Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2013-14 - Statistical Tables, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, available at <http://bit.ly/2av5tvL> (last visited December 21, 2016).+(last+visited+December+21,+2016).>Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2004, February 28, 2007.Google Scholar
Everytown for Gun Safety, Online and Off the Record, available at <http://every.tw/1N48e44> (last visited December 21, 2016); Everytown for Gun Safety, Hiding in Plain Sight, available at <http://every.tw/1MOKRdW> (last visited December 21, 2016); Everytown for Gun Safety, No Questions Asked, available at <http://oregon.everytown.org> (last visited December 21, 2016); Everytown for Gun Safety, The Wild Wild Web, available at <https://everytownresearch.org/reports/the-wild-wild-web/> (last visited December 21, 2016).+(last+visited+December+21,+2016);+Everytown+for+Gun+Safety,+Hiding+in+Plain+Sight,+available+at++(last+visited+December+21,+2016);+Everytown+for+Gun+Safety,+No+Questions+Asked,+available+at++(last+visited+December+21,+2016);+Everytown+for+Gun+Safety,+The+Wild+Wild+Web,+available+at++(last+visited+December+21,+2016).>Google Scholar
N.J. Rev. Stat. 2C:58-3(c) (2016).Google Scholar
Webster, D. W., Crifasi, C. K., and Vernick, J. S., Erratum to: “Effects of the Repeal of Missouri's Handgun Purchaser Licensing Law on Homicides,” Journal Urban Health 91, no. 3 (2014): 598-601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudolph, K. E., Stuart, E. A., Vernick, J. S., and Webster, D. W., “Association between Connecticut's Permit-to-Purchase Handgun Law and Homicides,” American Journal of Public Health 105, no. 8 (2015): e49-e54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everytown for Gun Safety, Gun Background Checks Reduce Crime and Save Lives, available at <www.EverytownResearch.org> (last visited November 15, 2016).+(last+visited+November+15,+2016).>Google Scholar
Crifasi, C. K., Meyers, J. S., Vernick, J. S., and Webster, D. W., “Effects of Changes in Permit-to-Purchase Handgun Laws in Connecticut and Missouri on Suicide Rates,” Preventive Medicine 79 (2015): 43-49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everytown for Gun Safety, Valerie, Shayley, Samantha, Sharon, Monique, Zina, and Jitka, available at <http://everytown.org/press/valerie-shayley-samantha-sharon-monique-zinaand-jitka/> (last visited December 21, 2016).+(last+visited+December+21,+2016).>Google Scholar
Ballotpedia, Colorado Gun Shows Background Checks, Initiative 22 (2000), available at <http://bit.ly/1wIBZ40> (last visited December 21, 2016).+(last+visited+December+21,+2016).>Google Scholar
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-33.5-424(5) (2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Current Year Statistics, available through <https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cbi/currentyearstatistics> (last visted December 21, 2016).+(last+visted+December+21,+2016).>Google Scholar
Ward, K., “The Gun Violence Restraining Order: An Opportunity for Common Ground in the Gun Violence Debate,” Developments in Mental Health Law 34, no. 3 (2015): 1-2.Google Scholar
Swanson, J. W., Robertson, A. G., Frisman, L. K., Norko, M. A., Lin, H. J., Swartz, M. S., and Cook, P. J., “Preventing Gun Violence Involving People with Serious Mental Illness,” in Webster, D. W. and Vernick, J. S., eds., Reducing Gun Violence in America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013): at 33-51.Google Scholar
Swanson, J. W., Holzer, C. E., Ganju, V. K., and Jono, R. T., “Violence and Psychiatric Disorder in the Community: Evidence From the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Surveys,” Psychiatric Services 41, no. 7 (1990): 761-770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy, Guns, Public Health, and Mental Illness: An Evidence-Based Approach for State Policy, available at <http://efsgv.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Final-State-Report.pdf> (last visited December 21, 2016).+(last+visited+December+21,+2016).>Google Scholar
Swanson, J. W., Norko, M., Lin, H-J., Alanis-Hirsch, K., Frisman, L., Baranoski, M., Easter, M., Robertson, A. G., Swartz, M., and Bonnie, R. J., “Implementation and Effectiveness of Connecticut's Risk-Based Gun Removal Law: Does It Prevent Suicides?” Law and Contemporary Problems, August 2016, available at <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2828847> (last visited December 21, 2016). (last visited December 21, 2016).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Swanson,+J.+W.,+Norko,+M.,+Lin,+H-J.,+Alanis-Hirsch,+K.,+Frisman,+L.,+Baranoski,+M.,+Easter,+M.,+Robertson,+A.+G.,+Swartz,+M.,+and+Bonnie,+R.+J.,+“Implementation+and+Effectiveness+of+Connecticut's+Risk-Based+Gun+Removal+Law:+Does+It+Prevent+Suicides?”+Law+and+Contemporary+Problems,+August+2016,+available+at++(last+visited+December+21,+2016).>Google Scholar