Guns In
America--Public Health Burdens And Interventions Are Described
“Motor
vehicle and firearm death rates are now equivalent.”
Reflecting the importance of guns as a public health issue, they were
the subject of a hot topic session on the second day of the Congress.
Four speakers described 1) the burden of morbidity and mortality
imposed by guns, 2) drivers of firearm violence, 3) legislative/policy
interventions, and 4) the state of research and future directions.
Boston University’s Bindu Kalesan organized her presentation
about guns around themes—1) that gun violence is a public health
crisis (motor vehicle and firearm death rates are now equivalent, 2)
nonfatal firearm injuries outnumber fatal injuries (they
predominantly burden black Americans but are increasing among whites),
3) there is wide variation in fatal gun injuries and gun ownership by
state, and 4) US gun culture is robustly associated with gun
ownership.
Kara Rudolph
from Berkeley described epidemiologic research which analyzed the
impact of a handgun permit-to-purchase law in Connecticut.
Investigators were able to show that the law or intervention was
associated with a 40% reduction in homicide rates with no concurrent
reduction in non-firearm homicides (as one would expect if the law was
effective).
Julian Santaella
from Columbia reported on a literature review of gun laws in different
countries. Recently published in Epidemiologic Reviews, the work
from
130 studies in 10 countries suggested that in certain nations the
simultaneous implementation of laws targeting multiple firearms
restrictions is associated with reductions in firearm deaths. Not
proof, but very suggestive evidence of efficacy.
Magdalena Cerda
from the
University of California Davis described the global burden of gun
violence. She told attendees that guns are associated with 500,000
deaths globally and four times this number of hospitalizations. She
asserted the world could save two trillion dollars in economic losses
if this burden could be reduced by half. ■
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