Firearm injury prevention policies must be implemented properly to be effective

When evidence-based firearm injury prevention policies resembling extreme risk protection orders are implemented properly, they will play a big role in stopping gun-related injuries and death, in line with a brand new scientific policy review led by the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention.

The study, published in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, reveals common challenges in implementation processes for firearm injury prevention policies.

To be able to determine a policy’s effectiveness, researchers found it’s crucial to rigorously consider and discover gaps within the processes of granting and enforcing extreme risk protection orders, or ERPOs, and domestic violence restraining orders, DVROs, and other firearms safety policies and laws.

Policies should utilize evidence-based strategies that seek to limit access to firearms for people who’re deemed to be at high risk for future gun violence, or be considered a danger to themselves or others. Purchaser licensing laws are a technique to implement those restrictions by requiring that a person obtain a license from local authorities to buy a firearm.

In response to the review, in lots of states which have passed ERPO laws, the variety of petitions issued has been low as a consequence of unfamiliarity with the law, lack of expertise about when to petition for an ERPO and confusion around needed evidence needed to issue the petition.

Similarly, DVRO laws that include a firearm restriction see varied outcomes based on whether or not they include dating partners and temporary orders, and whether the court is allowed to order relinquishment of guns already possessed, the researchers say.

Although laws that include these provisions are related to a 12%-14% decrease in total intimate partner homicide, more data is needed to find out whether the laws further reduce firearm violence risk, if and once they are fully implemented, they are saying.

It’s inarguable that more research is required on each the implementation and outcomes of those gun safety laws.”

April Zeoli, associate professor of health management and policy at U-M’s School of Public Health, and policy core director on the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention

“Nevertheless, the research that we currently have is compelling. Research has shown that well-implemented firearm policy that relies on evidence-based risk aspects could be effective in reducing all kinds of firearm injury.”

The findings also show that, when implemented properly, background checks at point of sale keep those prohibited from possessing a firearm from obtaining one. Nevertheless, states that adopt these laws don’t necessarily see a decrease in rates of violence, indicating inadequate implementation processes. Purchaser licensing laws, nonetheless, see more robust decreases in firearm violence rates.

Each policy has been found to have unique challenges, most notably inconsistent enforcement, that likely decrease effectiveness in comparison with policies which have been fully and properly implemented as intended.

Zeoli and colleagues also note that future work on this space should discover and assess relationships between firearm injury prevention policies and whether and the way a mix of policies can best discover and restrict gun access to high risk individuals in an equitable technique to prevent firearm injury and death.