Debunking myths about gun violence

Evidence-based solutions to gun violence in America have been shrouded by misinformation and political spin. But experts from Johns Hopkins are setting the record straight.

  The American Exception

More guns, more killing. Fewer guns, less killing. Everybody else has figured that out. Americans—and only Americans—refuse to do so.

Americans Don't Really Understand Gun Violence

Why? Because there's very little known about the thousands of victims who survive deadly shootings.

Gun violence prevention

We can—and must—end the epidemic of gun violence.

How To Donate To Gun Control Organizations Working To Put An End To The Violence

Once you've beefed up on the issues behind the arguments for and against gun control you might think about donating to an organization or campaign aimed at raising public awareness on gun violence and pushing gun control legislation through Congress. There are more than a few notable organizations worthy of your support.

Is Gun Ownership Good for Your Health?

Gun advocates say that not only doesn't gun ownership correlate with violence, but that guns are a means to greater safety. But how healthy is it for society to buy in to such an argument?

The Gun Violence Epidemic

“Gun violence in particular acts very much like a social contagion. It spreads like a virus,” said Daniel Webster, Director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins. “It spreads over time and place and among social networks, just as a virus might."

The Missing Data on Gun Violence

Restrictions on research, and a subsequent lack of evidence, make it hard to pinpoint the best ways to prevent firearm deaths and injuries.

The Other Gun Lobby

They are, sadly, growing in number: Americans devastated by gun violence. The connections they've forged are strong. But can they defeat the NRA?

The Science of Gun Violence and Gun Control in the U.S.

Gun-control laws and ownership restrictions are changing but clearly remain insufficient to bring our rates of gun deaths down to levels found in nearly all other developed countries.

What's the Solution to Gun Violence in America?

Parsing the robust (if seemingly gridlocked) debate.

The U.S. Once Had A Ban On Assault Weapons — Why Did It Expire?

One thing is clear: Assault weapons like those once restricted by the ban were used in the most memorable events that have defined the current era of random massacre, including at Sandy Hook in 2012, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018 — and this month in Texas and Ohio. They are the emblem of the nation's soul sickness over these tragedies.

Trauma Surgeon Battles Bullets In The Operating Room And The Community

"The disease that bullets bring does not yet have a name. It's like an infection, because it affects more than just the flesh it pierces. It infects the entire family, the entire community. Even our country." Dr. Laurie Punch, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis

What Research Shows About the Alleged Link Between Mental Illness and Gun Violence

"Mental illness and hate pulls the trigger, not the gun," President Trump said on Monday. But the causal connection between mental health and gun violence is not as strong as he suggests.

Could a national buyback program reduce gun violence in America?

Americans own nearly half of the world’s guns, with approximately 120 firearms for every 100 U.S. residents. Gun control policies may someday restrict new gun sales. But what impact can they have when Americans already own millions of guns?

Dear Walmart C.E.O.: You Have the Power to Curb Gun Violence. Do It

In the depths of this crisis lies an opportunity: for you to help end this violence. You, singularly, have a greater chance to use your role as the chief executive of the country’s largest retailer and largest seller of guns — with greater sway over the entire ecosystem that controls gun sales in the United States than any other individual in corporate America.

Don’t let the mass shooters win

Mass shootings are a serious problem. But we shouldn’t let fear of them take over our lives.

How The U.S. Compares With Other Countries In Deaths From Gun Violence

The United States has the 28th-highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the world: 4.43 deaths per 100,000 people in 2017 — far greater than what is seen in other wealthy countries.

In the Wake of Mass Shootings, We Need More Focus on Gun Manufacturers

The United States is the prime market for gun makers, including both American and European companies. Leading European gun makers like Beretta and Glock export millions of guns each year to the U.S., as U.S. sales constitute the majority of their revenue. They come to this country because this is where the market for guns is far and away the greatest.

More mental health care won’t stop the gun epidemic, new study suggests

First, although increasing access to mental health care is necessary for a variety of compelling reasons, our findings suggest that strengthening mental health services won’t reduce firearm violence. Rather, action may be needed at the federal, state and local levels to strengthen laws and regulations shown to promote gun safety and prevent firearm deaths. Other countries, in particular Australia and New Zealand, responded forcefully to mass shooting events when they occurred and adopted regulatory measures to protect their citizens against gun violence.

A third of youth firearm deaths could be prevented without taking away a single gun

In 2015, more than 1,100 young people died by suicide or by accident because of a gun. New research suggests that almost one-third of those deaths could be prevented by simply locking up guns in the home.

Brazil Has an Idea to Fix Rampant Gun Violence: More Guns

The country with the highest number of murders in the world plans to make it easier for citizens to acquire guns, hoping to help beat back crime.

Cure Violence: Treating Violence as a Sickness

In medical terms, violence is not an epidemic. But Cure Violence believes violence is better understood and treated as if it were. And results suggest they just might be right.

Guns are killing high school kids across America at alarming rates

Firearms killed more 15 to 19 year olds than cancer, heart disease, and diabetes combined in 2016.

Guns in America: Our Relationship With Firearms in 5 Charts

Worldwide, the US ranks second only to Greenland in the rate of suicides by firearm; when you remove suicides from the equation, the US falls to number 28 worldwide for deaths from firearms, both from violent acts and accidents. But even subtracting suicides, the US's death rate from guns remains far ahead of every single European nation and nearly every Asian one.)

Hospitals Aren’t Fully Prepared for Mass Shootings, and It’s the Gun Lobby’s Fault

Emergency responders and doctors are reduced to sharing anecdotes when they should be compiling evidence.

How the Parkland shooting changed America’s gun debate

It led to stronger gun laws. But it also may have caused a longer-term shift in America’s gun politics.

It’s time to lift restrictions on studying gun violence and its prevention

When a fatal disease becomes increasingly common, scientists along with public health and government officials sound the alarm and try to identify what is causing the disease, how it spreads, and how to prevent it. Why aren’t we taking a similar approach with mass shootings, which are a similar sort of public health issue?

Stop blaming mental illness for mass shootings

But the convenient cries of “mental health” after mass shootings are worse than hypocritical. They’re factually wrong and stigmatizing to millions of completely nonviolent Americans living with severe mental illness.

The link between domestic violence and mass shootings, explained by a gun policy expert

Devin Patrick Kelley had a history of domestic violence. So did Omar Mateen and many, many others. What’s going on?

Why Can't the U.S. Treat Gun Violence as a Public-Health Problem?

A 1996 bill has had a chilling effect on the CDC’s ability to research firearms.