More gun regulation, less firearm harm

As election season heats up in the United States, the issue of gun violence has once again secured a prominent position in American political discourse. This has been intensified by the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, and, most recently, a high profile mass shooting that claimed four lives at a high school in Winder, Georgia.

On one side of the partisan aisle, solutions to the problem have embraced the mantra of “more guns, less crime.”1 Examples of such permissive policies include taking away the discretion of authorities to deny licences to carry concealed firearms, allowing possession of firearms at more locations, and providing increased legal protections to gun owners who use personal weapons in situations where they perceive a threat to self or others. On the other side, solutions have moved towards greater gun control. These restrictive policies include more comprehensive background checks coupled with more rigorous licensing schemes, prohibitions on the availability of certain firearm technologies, and tighter regulation of firearm use and storage as well as firearm possession by high risk …