Gun Control Policy to Prevent Public Mass Shootings: Regression Lines of Discontinuety Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Public mass shootings are a significant public health problem that require systematic surveillance to inform policies that combat gun injuries. While there is widespread agreement that something needs to be done to stop public mass shootings, exactly which policies that entails varies such as the prohibition of assault weapons and large capacity magazines. OBJECTIVE Needs to be added METHODS The FAWB resulted in a significant decrease in public mass shootings, number of gun deaths and injuries. We estimate the FAWB prevented 11 public mass shootings during the decade the ban was in place. A continuation of the FAWB would have prevented 30 public mass shootings that killed 339 people and injured an additional 1139 people. RESULTS The FAWB resulted in a significant decrease in public mass shootings, number of gun deaths and injuries. We estimate the FAWB prevented 11 public mass shootings during the decade the ban was in place. A continuation of the FAWB would have prevented 30 public mass shootings that killed 339 people and injured an additional 1139 people. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates the utility of public health surveillance on gun violence. Surveillance informs policy on whether a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines reduces public mass shootings. As society searches for effective policies to prevent the next public mass shooter, we must consider the overwhelming evidence that assault weapon bans and/or large capacity magazine bans work. CLINICALTRIAL NA

Policy Reform After a Mass Shooting

This chapter focuses on the case study of the Las Vegas mass shooting. Utilizing analyses of news media content and results from interviews with gun violence prevention (GVP) advocates, it explores the policy debates occurring after this shooting. Findings indicate that within the news media coverage the two main targets for policy change were bump stock devices and assault weapons. Bump stock devices had a direct link to the shooting and ended up banned; however, there are some issues with the way this measure was passed. There was also no traction on renewing the assault weapons ban. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the news media coverage was shown to adopt a defeatist tone indicating that no policy reform was expected to take place, citing a lack of action after previous incidents and the current political landscape as the reasons why nothing would happen.

Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns: how physicians contributed to policy change

Physicians played a key role in advancing Canada's recent assault weapons ban. Indeed, after announcing the ban in May 2020, the Trudeau government thanked Dr. Najma Ahmed and the group Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns (CDPG) for their support of responsible gun control measures. In this piece, we explore the context in which CDPG was formed, the strategies used by the group in building nationwide support for gun control measures, and the public health framing of their messaging that proved critical in engendering political change. The work of CDPG holds valuable lessons for physicians seeking to engage in political advocacy by bearing witness to the harms experienced by their patients.