Firearms and suicide | The committee cannot determine whether these associations (between gun ownership, criminal violence and suicide) demonstrate causal relationships. The committee recommends support of further individual-level studies of the link between firearms and both lethal and non-lethal suicidal behavior |
Deterrence and defense | Accurate measurement on the extent of defensive gun use is the first step for beginning serious dialogue on the efficacy of defensive gun use at preventing injury and crime. For such measurement, the committee recommends that a research program be established to (1) clearly define what is being measured, (2) understand inaccurate response in the national gun use surveys, and (3) apply known methods or develop new methods to reduce reporting errors to the extent possible |
Restricting access to firearms | It is simply not known whether it is actually possible to shut down illegal pipelines of guns to criminals nor the costs of doing so…the committee recommends that work be started to think carefully about possible research and data designs to address these issues |
Firearm-injury-prevention programs | In light of the lack of evidence, the committee recommends that firearm-violence-prevention programs should be based on general preventive theory, that government programs should incorporate evaluation into implementation efforts, and that a sustained body of empirical research be developed to study the effects of different safety technologies on violence and crime |
Criminal justice interventions | The committee recommends that a sustained, systematic research program be conducted to assess the effect of targeted policing and sentencing aimed at firearms offenders |