Putting An End To Gun Violence In America

Introduction

Massachusetts has the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in the United States. In 2016, Massachusetts boasted the lowest per capita gun death rate in the nation, with 3.5 deaths per 100,000 people. Per The Boston Globe Editorial Board, if Massachusetts gun legislation was adopted nationwide, some 27,000 lives would be saved each year. Despite Massachusetts’ low rate of firearm deaths, communities remain terrorized by preventable gun violence each day — especially low-income communities of color. This is largely due to illegal trafficking of firearms within our state and — more importantly — across state lines. 

A state’s individual gun laws are only as strong as the laws of neighboring states. For this reason, a federal solution is the only solution here. We must prioritize the following measures in order to combat this crisis nationwide:

1. Red Flag Laws

2. A Federal Assault Weapons Ban & Mandatory Buyback

3. Mandatory Liability Insurance for All Firearms

4. Phase-Out of Concealed Carry

5. Community Solutions & Violence Intervention

6. Treating Gun Violence Through Public Health 

Part 1: Red Flag Laws

Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO), commonly referred to as Red Flag Laws, permit police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary confiscation of firearms from those they believe pose a threat to their individual safety or the safety of others. Red Flag Laws have so far been implemented in 17 states. The implementation of this legislation in all 50 states would empower loved ones or law enforcement to take action immediately. 

Red Flag Laws work. Findings from research done in Connecticut and Indiana prove that, for every 10 to 20 confiscations under this legislation, one death was prevented. Further research found that those subject to confiscation orders were over 30 times more likely than the average person to die by suicide. In practice, Red Flag Laws are applied to groups at high risk of harm or death — this legislation is crucial as one piece of a larger federal gun reform package.

Red Flag Laws aid in the prevention of mass shootings and school shootings. An Everytown analysis of mass shootings from 2009 to 2017 determined that, in 51% of incidents, the shooter exhibited warning signs of danger to themselves or others before committing violent acts. These warning signs are even more obvious in cases of school violence — in 93% of incidents, behavioral warning signs caused concern, and in 81% of incidents, others knew of plans to commit violent acts. 

Further, Red Flag Laws allow law enforcement to better intervene in cases of domestic and intimate partner violence, where abusers’ access to a firearm increases the potential for partner’s death by five times. These laws save lives: states that restrict abusers’ access to firearms on the basis of domestic violence restraining orders have reduced firearm intimate partner homicides by 13%. Only 17 states and the District of Columbia currently have Red Flag Laws in place. All fifty states must commit to taking guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. 

Part 2: A Federal Assault Weapons Ban & Mandatory Buyback

We must get weapons of war off of our streets and out of the hands of everyday civilians — weapons whose ammunition magazines hold more than 10 rounds simultaneously. While a federal assault weapons ban was enacted by President Clinton, it expired in 2004. In Massachusetts, a state assault weapons ban, passed as the federal ban expired, includes comprehensive buyback infrastructure and heightened copycat weapon enforcement. 

Where Massachusetts leads, the nation must follow. We must reinstate this federal ban (with the inclusion of mandatory buyback programs) to eradicate the use of weapons of war in tragedies across the nation. Buybacks that ensure compliance with new legislation and offer economic incentive are crucial in combating this crisis. 

Part 3: Mandatory Liability Insurance

Just as car owners are required to have liability insurance to cover damages, we should require the same of gun owners. On a basic level, mandatory liability insurance allows us to vet out applicants with a questionable history of firearm use. Further, while the direct price of a weapon is often taken into consideration, the external social cost is not. Instead of relying on gun owners to do this mental calculus, we should tax guns — more specifically, we should tax gun violence. In requiring gun owners to obtain liability insurance when purchasing a weapon, this mental calculus is forced — buyers are required to take necessary precautions and consider potential damages.

As Robert Frank, professor of economics at Cornell, puts it: “Nothing in our constitution grants people the right to expose others to serious risk without compensation.” At the very least, we must treat guns as we treat cars, normalizing liability insurance to account for potential damages. As progressives, we must treat guns as they are: instruments that are inherently meant to harm — machines that prompt mandatory liability insurance. 

Part 4: Phase-Out of Concealed Carry

Currently, all 50 states have laws in place that allow citizens to carry concealed weapons, a practice that is commonly justified with a need for self-defense. While concealed carry is often cited as a Second Amendment right, this has been reputably refuted — in 2016, a federal appeals court in California ruled that the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to carry concealed weapons in public. 

Concealed carry is unnecessary. At a time when both violent crime and property crime rates have been dropping for two decades, nearly 18 million Americans possess permits to carry concealed handguns — that’s a 304% increase from just 13 years ago. While crime rates have steadily fallen, Americans have obtained concealed carry permits at an increased rate. We must rely on data to understand the value (or lack thereof) of laws that allow citizens to carry weapons in public places.

Further, concealed carry is problematic. Myriad research has proven that more guns = more crime. One such study, released in 2014 by Stanford Law researchers, found that right-to-carry laws are associated with substantial increases in rates of aggravated assault, robbery, and murder. Claims of self-defense are rendered moot by research from the Violence Policy Center, which found that “the number of justifiable homicides that occur in our nation each year pale in comparison to criminal homicides, let alone gun suicides and fatal unintentional shootings.”

Less guns = less crime. In order to truly combat the American gun violence epidemic, we must prioritize a phase-out of concealed carry legislation everywhere.

Part 5: Community Solutions and Violence Intervention

Mass shootings in white suburban areas, often in schools, tend to attract the most media coverage surrounding gun violence. We must understand that gun violence manifests in different ways within communities of color, especially in low-income, urban areas — and disproportionately affects these communities. One-size-fits-all gun violence solutions don’t work. Instead, we must support the efforts of solution-oriented organizers and groups within these communities, and must push our approach to center around voices of color and the needs of the communities most impacted. This means: fully funding violence intervention programs, investing in heightened conflict de-escalation training, and bolstering mental and behavioral health support in communities plagued by violence and trauma.

Part 6: Treating Gun Violence Through Public Health

To put an end to gun violence once and for all, we must regard the crisis as a public health emergency. We must push for the immediate adoption of universal background checks to ensure that weapons stay out of dangerous hands. Right now, an estimated 22% of gun owners acquired their most recently purchased firearm without a background check — meaning millions of people have acquired millions of guns without any sort of vetting process.

Background checks work: in the past two decades, over 3 million people legally barred from possessing a gun have been stopped from purchasing a gun or have been denied permit to purchase. We need a universal, federal response — as states without universal background check laws export guns across state lines at rates 30% higher than states that require background checks on all gun sales. Without this legislation in place, loopholes are exploited: roughly 80% of all guns acquired for criminal use are obtained through transfers from unlicensed sellers, and 96% of inmates convicted of gun offenses — who were prohibited from possessing a firearm at the time of the offense — obtained their firearm from an unlicensed seller. Universal background checks are a fundamental step that must be taken immediately to curb gun violence in America.

Gun violence must be considered a public health crisis — an epidemic that requires collaboration between the political and medical communities. Just two months ago, the CDC & NIH were granted a mere $25 million for gun violence research — after a 20-year drought. The federal government must go even further in supporting the efforts of academics and medical professions in their pursuit of evidence-based solutions to gun violence. 

These collaborative intersections already operate here in Massachusetts, at facilities such as the Center for Gun Violence Prevention at Massachusetts General Hospital. We must encourage collaboration on a national level. Members of the medical and academic communities must be brought to the same table to discuss and develop gun violence solutions, and as a member of Congress, Jake will ensure that this approach becomes reality.

Conclusion

We’ve made the choice to prioritize saving lives here in Massachusetts. Now, we must carry this priority to the federal level. Over 90% of Democrats — and 60% of all Americans — stand in favor of stricter gun safety laws. The public support exists — what we lack is political will. In Congress, Jake will make it his mission to take on the NRA and will fight to make common sense gun safety legislation a reality. 

Thanks to Maddy Ranalli and March for Our Lives for their support in researching and developing this plan.