So many guns, so little data: An economist on US gun violence
From President Donald Trump to presidential candidates, the air is thick with policy proposals to prevent the next mass shooting. Senate leaders promise to take up gun legislation when the Senate reconvenes in September. The House has already passed a universal background check bill that closes the “gun-show loophole.”
But there is a “shocking absence” of evidence to inform gun policy in the United States, and no conclusive evidence on what policies might effectively stop mass public shootings like those in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, according to Rosanna Smart, an economist with the Rand Corp.
Last year, Rand published
What is known about how to stop mass shootings?Well, then, what is known about effective gun policies?What’s at stake for society given weak data on gun policy?What are common misperceptions about mass shootings?How can gun policy research be strengthened?
