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Mass murder, especially involving a firearm, has been a subject of increasing interest among criminologists over the past decade. Lacking an existing and reliable data resource for studying these crimes, several organizations have launched their own database initiatives with, unfortunately, little consensus on definition. As a result, there is confusion regarding the nature and trends of such events. In this paper, we rely on the Associated Press/USA Today/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database, which provides the widest coverage of incidents in the U.S. with four or more victim fatalities, regardless of location, situation, or weapon. First, we present trends in incidents and victimization of mass killings from 2006 through 2020, followed by an examination of various incident, offender, and victim characteristics, distinguishing among the major subtypes. Next, we detail a motivational typology of mass murder and identify the common contributing factors. Finally, we consider the potential effects of certain policy responses related to media coverage, mental health services, and gun restrictions on the prevalence of mass killing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the ways different sections of Toronto’s black community construct the problem of gun violence commonly associated with young black males in the city. Recognising that social policies are often products of contestations among different claims makers trying to dominate the definition of particular social problems and the policy initiatives for their control, the paper documents the marginalized epistemologies of members of the city’s black community as “knowers located in actual lived situations”. Following Smith’s ( Writing the social: Critique, theory, and investigations, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, , p. 5) “sociology for people” method of inquiry, it examines the prism of meaning within which black community leaders interpret the phenomenon of gun violence taking place among mostly black youths in Toronto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The image of the 'man with a gun' is pervasive in Papua New Guinea and connotes not only the state's capacity to use force, but that of men to resist and subvert state control. At the same time, the association of beer and marijuana with both modernity and violent masculine behaviours provides the context, the justification and the forms of homosocial activities involving violence. In this paper, I explore the ambiguities surrounding guns as instruments of state force and as symbols of masculine autonomy in so-called 'weak states' by examining some stories about the ways that guns are acquired for illegal activities. In particular, I shall discuss the ways that guns and beer are instruments of violence and potency for police, tribal warriors and criminals as well as some of the means whereby men gain access to new forms of power. Drawing on ethnographic research with young men in New Ireland Province, the paper will deal specifically with the ways that adolescent boys construe 'modern masculinity'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although some sources have observed an increase in the number of gun purchases following mass shootings, empirical research investigating this pattern is limited. Appraisal Theory suggests that mass shootings contribute to fear of victimization through media exposure. Desire for self-protection is the primary reason many individuals own and purchase guns. This paper examines this link by assessing the effects of six mass shootings that took place in the 2000–2010 time period. This study examines effects for gun acquisition nationally and regionally as well as timing-specific patterns in gun acquisition following these events. Gun acquisition counts are approximated from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Results indicate a positive but delayed association between mass shootings and the number of NICS background checks. Implications of this finding for violence and possibilities for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Psychiatric Association, ('APA'), with more than 36,000 members at present, is the Nation's leading organization of physicians who specialize in psychiatry. APA provides for education and advocacy and develops policy through Position Statements. It promotes enhanced knowledge of particular topics relevant to psychiatric practice and patient care through Resource Documents. Since 1993, the APA has developed various positions and resource materials related to firearms and mental illness, incorporating evolving themes as new issues emerge. This paper reflects the APA's 2014 Position Statement on Firearm Access, Acts of Violence and the Relationship to Mental Illness and Mental Health Services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Psychiatric Association, ('APA'), with more than 36,000 members at present, is the Nation's leading organization of physicians who specialize in psychiatry. APA provides for education and advocacy and develops policy through Position Statements. It promotes enhanced knowledge of particular topics relevant to psychiatric practice and patient care through Resource Documents. Since 1993, the APA has developed various positions and resource materials related to firearms and mental illness, incorporating evolving themes as new issues emerge. This paper reflects the APA's 2014 Resource Document on 'Access to Firearms by People with Mental Disorders.' This article is derived from work done on behalf of American Psychiatric Association and remains the property of APA. It has been altered only in response to the requirements of peer review. Copyright © 2015 American Psychiatric Association. Published with permission (original adopted by the American Psychiatric Association 2014). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper reviews 41 English-language studies that tested the hypothesis that higher gun prevalence levels cause higher crime rates, especially higher homicide rates. Methods Each study was assessed as to whether it solved or reduced each of three critical methodological problems: (1) whether a validated measure of gun prevalence was used, (2) whether the authors controlled for more than a handful of possible confounding variables, and (3) whether the researchers used suitable causal order procedures to deal with the possibility of crime rates affecting gun rates, instead of the reverse. Results It was found that most studies did not solve any of these problems, and that research that did a better job of addressing these problems was less likely to support the more-guns-cause-more crime hypothesis. Indeed, none of the studies that solved all three problems supported the hypothesis. Conclusions Technically weak research mostly supports the hypothesis, while strong research does not. It must be tentatively concluded that higher gun ownership rates do not cause higher crime rates, including homicide rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to generate information about the contours of police responsiveness, focussing on how quickly and precisely police make firearm arrests after a shooting incident. Design/methodology/approach – Using a modified version of the Knox close pair method, a spatio-temporal clustering technique, over 11,000 shooting incidents and firearm arrests between 2004 and 2007 in Philadelphia, PA were analyzed. Findings – Police are responding quickly and in a geographically targeted fashion to shootings. Across Philadelphia elevated patterns of firearm arrests were approximately two and a half times greater than would be expected if shootings and firearm arrests lacked a spatio-temporal association. Greater than expected patterns of firearm arrests persisted for roughly one-fourth of a mile and for about one week from the shooting incident but the strength of these associations waned over space and time. The pattern of police response varied slightly across different police divisions. Research limitations/implications – The current method uncovered spatio-temporal patterning and determined when these patterns were significantly different from what would be expected if the events were completely independent. Specific events and processes surrounding each event are not known. Practical implications – Findings can help inform the knowledge about police behavior in terms of how police produce arrests. Originality/value – The patterns observed here provide more micro-level detail than has been revealed in previous studies regarding police responsiveness to firearm violence while also introducing a more integrated spatially and temporally specific framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a case study of how Youth ALIVE!, a nonprofit public health organization, blended direct service and policy goals to reduce youth gun violence at a time when guns became the number one killer of children in California. Youth ALIVE! trained young people living in California communities with the highest rates of gun violence to become peer educators and leaders to reduce both the supply of, and demand for, guns. The youth presented health and criminal justice data in the context of their own experiences living in communities endangered by gun violence to help build public policy solutions, contributing to the subsequent drop in gun homicides. Youth ALIVE's vibrant grassroots model provides a real-life tableau of research and direct services working together to yield realistic policy solutions to a lethal public health problem. The youths' successes demonstrate how nonprofit direct service organizations are uniquely positioned to advocate for policy and regulatory changes that can be beneficial to both program participants and society. Direct service organizations' daily exposure to real-life client needs provides valuable insights for developing viable policies-plus highly motivated advocates. When backed by scientific findings on the causes of the problem, this synergy of youth participant engagement in civil society can promote good policy and build healthy communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to investigate possible causes for the significant reduction observed in crime rates in São Paulo city. By applying a cointegration analysis, we observed long-run relationships between crime, economic activity, and police performance. The results indicate that the lethal crime rate is positively related to unemployment and negatively related to real wages and to the results of law-enforcement activities, specifically arrests and seizure of firearms. Moreover, the hypothesis that the Disarmament Statute led to a reduction in the lethal crime rate is not rejected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of Americans are killed by gunfire each year, and hundreds of thousands more are injured or threatened with guns in robberies and assaults. The burden of gun violence in urban areas is particularly high. Critics suggest that the results of firearm trace data and gun trafficking investigation studies cannot be used to understand the illegal supply of guns to criminals and, therefore, that regulatory and enforcement efforts designed to disrupt illegal firearms markets are futile in addressing criminal access to firearms. In this paper, we present new data to address three key arguments used by skeptics to undermine research on illegal gun market dynamics. We find that criminals rely upon a diverse set of illegal diversion pathways to acquire guns, gun traffickers usually divert small numbers of guns, newer guns are diverted through close-to-retail diversions from legal firearms commerce, and that a diverse set of gun trafficking indicators are needed to identify and shut down gun trafficking pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A threat to the safety of citizens in any country, the criminal misuse of firearms presents a wider danger to a nation's security, peace, stability and development. Firearms and their related evidence know no borders. It is not uncommon to find the murder weapon from a shooting in one city ending up in another city, country, or continent. No country remains unaffected by firearm violence. This paper describes how transnational organized crime and gun violence are interrelated, and makes the case for the international sharing of firearm forensic intelligence through Interpol's IBIN Program as an integral component of an intelligence-led policing strategy to combat cross-border gun related crime. With such a strategy in place, internationally mobile criminals who use firearms to further their illicit activities can no longer escape detection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Among Pacific states, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has attracted the most attention from researchers looking at problems caused by small arms and light weapons. There is now a substantive body of work cataloguing different aspects of the country's problems with firearms and gun violence. This research sits alongside a large scholarly literature on violence in PNG and the connection between violence, gender and masculine identities. There has, however, been strikingly little research bringing these literatures together and looking directly at the gendered dimensions of PNG's gun violence. This paper explores some connections between small arms, violence and gender in PNG. After providing a general overview of small arms issues in PNG, it examines the misuse of firearms in urban crime and inter-communal fighting in the Highlands, specifically noting the limited evidence that is available about the differently gendered consequences of gun violence. It identifies three potential areas for further research: exploring the relationship between changing notions of masculinity and demand for firearms; gender and PNG's growing private security industry; and fragile signs of change in the role of women in the PNG Defence Force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A widely publicized but unpublished study of the relationship between gun shows and gun violence is being cited in debates about the regulation of gun shows and gun commerce. We believe the study is fatally flawed. A working paper entitled "The Effect of Gun Shows on Gun-Related Deaths: Evidence from California and Texas" outlined this study, which found no association between gun shows and gun-related deaths. We believe the study reflects a limited understanding of gun shows and gun markets and is not statistically powered to detect even an implausibly large effect of gun shows on gun violence. In addition, the research contains serious ascertainment and classification errors, produces results that are sensitive to minor specification changes in key variables and in some cases have no face validity, and is contradicted by 1 of its own authors' prior research. The study should not be used as evidence in formulating gun policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From stereotypical views of Ireland as a peaceful and ‘low crime’ society, the media and policy makers now report the worsening of gun crime, in particular crimes of homicide committed by firearm. Despite this sometimes hyperbolic popular commentary, serious and fatal gun crime has indeed increased. In reacting through extraordinary legal measures, the Irish state adopts an unduly narrow perspective, predicated on a rational actor model; what this paper seeks to do is put forward two more profitable and persuasive means of analysis, by focusing on social deprivation and the expression of masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boston, like many other major U.S. cities, experienced an epidemic of gun violence during the late 1980s and early 1990s that was followed by a sudden large downturn in gun violence in the mid 1990s. The gun violence drop continued until the early part of the new millennium. Recent advances in criminological research suggest that there is significant clustering of crime in micro places, or “hot spots,” that generate a disproportionate amount of criminal events in a city. In this paper, we use growth curve regression models to uncover distinctive developmental trends in gun assault incidents at street segments and intersections in Boston over a 29-year period. We find that Boston gun violence is intensely concentrated at a small number of street segments and intersections rather than spread evenly across the urban landscape between 1980 and 2008. Gun violence trends at these high-activity micro places follow two general trajectories: stable concentrations of gun assaults incidents over time and volatile concentrations of gun assault incidents over time. Micro places with volatile trajectories represent less than 3% of street segments and intersections, generate more than half of all gun violence incidents, and seem to be the primary drivers of overall gun violence trends in Boston. Our findings suggest that the urban gun violence epidemic, and sudden downturn in urban gun violence in the late 1990s, may be best understood by examining highly volatile micro-level trends at a relatively small number of places in urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Well developed experimental procedures currently exist for retrieving and analyzing particle evidence from hands of individuals suspected of being associated with the discharge of a firearm. Although analytical approaches (e.g. automated Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDS) microanalysis) allow the determination of the presence of elements typically found in gunshot residue (GSR) particles, such analyses provide no information about a given particle’s actual source. Possible origins for which scientists may need to account for are a primary exposure to the discharge of a firearm or a secondary transfer due to a contaminated environment. In order to approach such sources of uncertainty in the context of evidential assessment, this paper studies the construction and practical implementation of graphical probability models (i.e. Bayesian networks). These can assist forensic scientists in making the issue tractable within a probabilistic perspective. The proposed models focus on likelihood ratio calculations at various levels of detail as well as case pre-assessment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In recent years the gun control movement has increasingly shifted its efforts from lobbying for new gun-control legislation to facilitating lawsuits against the gun industry, especially those based on claims of negligent distribution of firearms. These lawsuits are based on the premise that organized gun trafficking, much of it involving corrupt or negligent licensed dealers, plays an important role in supplying guns to criminals. This paper first assesses the extant evidence bearing on this claim, as well as on underlying assertions as to how one can tell whether a crime gun has been trafficked or whether a licensed dealer is involved in trafficking. Law enforcement evidence indicates that high-volume trafficking is extremely unusual, and that average "traffickers" handle fewer than a dozen guns. The aggregate volume of guns moved by known traffickers is negligible compared to even low estimates of the number of guns stolen. City-level data on crime guns recovered in fifty large U.S. cities in 2000 are then analyzed to investigate (a) whether supposed indicators of gun trafficking are valid, (b) what factors affect trafficking levels, (c) the impact of gun trafficking on gun possession levels among criminals, and (d) the impact of gun trafficking on crime rates. The findings suggest that most supposed indicators that a crime gun has been trafficked have little validity. One possible exception is whether a gun has an obliterated serial number (OSN). Using the share of crime guns with an OSN as a city-level indicator of the prevalence of gun trafficking, the analysis showed that trafficking is more common where guns are scarcer. The analysis also showed that laws regulating the purchase of guns, including one-gun-a-month laws specifically aimed at trafficking, show no effect on trafficking activity. Finally, the research indicates that trafficking levels show no measurable effect on gun possession among criminals (measured as the share of homicides committed with guns), and generally show no effect on violent-crime rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth gun violence is most often a group phenomenon yet most empirical examinations ignore this fact. Using interview data with 416 violent male offenders from two disadvantaged New York City neighborhoods, this paper examines the roles that the peer contexts play in explaining the nuanced patterns of respondent gun-related behaviors. We hypothesize that respondents who are comparatively more embedded in networks of peers who carry and use guns will also report greater involvement in serious gun violence. We found that guns were equated with self-protection and the most prevalent reason given for possession and carrying behaviors of peers. Belonging to a group of associates was also perceived to have protective value. Guns and armed peers played a role in heightened risk for lethal conflict. Peers are involved as co-offenders in the majority of gun events reported. We discuss the implications of our findings for violence intervention policy and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firearm violence is the end result of a causative web of individual-level and geographic risk factors. Few, if any, studies of firearm violence have been able to simultaneously determine the population-based relative risks that individuals experience as a result of what they were doing at a specific point in time and where they were, geographically, at a specific point in time. This paper describes the linkage of individual and geographic data that was undertaken as part of a population-based case-control study of firearm violence in Philadelphia. New methods and applications of these linked data relevant to researchers and policymakers interested in firearm violence are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the World Health Assembly in 1996, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared violence “a leading worldwide public health problem” and called for public health strategies to address it. The WHO's call to action, as well as an international political movement that is gaining strength, has helped galvanize health professionals in many countries to employ the tools of public health and their medical skills to better understand the causes of violence, to use research findings to influence policy, and to animate statistics with a human face. This paper reviews the scope of the problem, with a focus on armed violence with small arms and light weapons. It presents a history of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War's (IPPNW) involvement in this issue. A case example from IPPNW/Zambia demonstrates how health community involvement can raise awareness about armed violence and its risk factors, and influence policy changes.Journal of Public Health Policy (2007) 28, 389–400. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jphp.3200150 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decade of the 1990s witnessed unexpected but welcome large declines in homicide and serious firearms violence. Yet, despite these declines, rates of firearms crime in the United States remain high compared to other western democracies and impose significant costs to society generally and to specific communities particularly. One promising approach to gun crime emerged in Boston during the mid‐1990s. This approach combined face‐to‐face communication of a deterrence message to youth gang members with social service outreach and crackdowns on several gangs. Boston then experienced very significant declines in youth gun crime. This approach was later repeated in Minneapolis with similar promising results. This paper presents the results of a study of a similar gun‐crime‐reduction effort in Indianapolis. Time‐series analyses suggest a significant decline in homicide similar to those observed in Boston and Minneapolis. Comparisons to six similar Midwestern cities revealed that Indianapolis was the only city to experience a significant decline in homicide. The results are discussed in the context of deterrence research and suggest the need to move beyond single‐city evaluations of promising interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various papers published in the October 2005 issue of the journal "Criminology & Public Policy," including one by Jens Ludwig on reducing gun violence and another by Anthony Braga and Glenn Pierce on causes of reduction in juvenile homicides and gun violence.

The article presents an introduction to the papers published in the October's edition of the journal "Criminology & Public Policy," examining several strategies aimed at reducing gun violence in the U.S.

The reactions of the gun market, including those of producers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers, play an important role in shaping the potential impact of gun control policies on gun crime. As a case in point, this paper examines the federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 , which bans a group of military-style semiautomatic firearms (i.e., assault weapons). Using a variety of national and local data sources, we assess the short-term (1994–1996) impact of the assault weapons ban on gun markets, examining trends in prices and production of the banned weapons in legal markets and assessing the availability of the banned weapons in illicit markets as measured by criminal use. Prices of assault weapons rose substantially around the time of the ban's enactment, reducing the availability of assault weapons to criminal users in the very short run. However, a surge in assault weapon production just before the ban caused prices to fall in the months following the ban. Implications of the findings for assessing this and other gun control policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Firearms Connection—The North Philadelphia Firearms Reduction Initiative is a youth firearm violence prevention program using a partnership model that links healthcare, criminal justice, business, and social service providers with neighborhood residents and community organizations to identify priorities and develop solutions. The assessment phase helped build the partnerships and engage the community in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of specific interventions. The needs assessment was used to 1) specify the problem of firearm violence in the target community; 2) frame possible solutions in the language of the community; 3) identify community assets and resources for planning, implementation and evaluation; 4) engage key members of the community for participation in the assessment and intervention planning process; and 5) identify appropriate markers for evaluation of progress and outcome. This paper presents the qualitative method of Rapid Participatory Appraisal used for the assessment, the results as related to the specific problem of youth violence, and how the assessment process was used to advance the coalition building process. ? 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]