Abstract
This paper examines the context within which research and policy have developed by tracing the historical development of gun research across decades and topics. While the journey is not necessarily linear, nor is it always clear, the work done by researchers on gun issues offers some hope for improving both the debate and outcomes associated with this area. Identifying seminal moments in gun research and policy history aid in the exploration of this issue and offer directions for the future. Research has addressed many of the challenges of firearms in society. The purpose of this paper is to note the failure of the research to recognize the role of guns in America even as it attempts to bring change within the volatile arena of guns in America. This disconnect between the research and the social problems and harm associated with guns is clear in the literature and the policy that attempts to respond.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Azrael, D., Hepburn, L., Hemenway, D., & Miller, M. (2017). The stock and flow of US firearms: results from the 2015 National Firearms Survey. The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 3(5), 38–57.
Barkin, S., Duan, N., Fink, A., Brook, R., & Gelberg, L. (1998). The smoking gun: Do clinicians follow guidelines on firearm safety counseling? Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 152(8), 749–756.
Barragan, M., Sherman, N., Reiter, K., & Tita, G. E. (2015). “Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t” Perceptions of Guns, Safety, and Legitimacy Among Detained Gun Offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 43(1), 140–155.
Bellesiles, M. (2000). Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Bjerregaard, B., & Lizotte, A. J. (1995). Gun ownership and gang membership. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 86(1), 37–58.
Bordua, D. J., & Lizotte, A. J. (1979). Patterns of legal firearms ownership: A cultural and situational analysis of Illinois counties. Law & Policy, 1(2), 147–175.
Braga, A. A., & Hureau, D. M. (2015). Strong Gun Laws Are Not Enough: The Need for Improved Enforcement of Secondhand Gun Transfer Laws in Massachusetts. Preventative Medicine, 79, 37–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.05.018.
Braga, A. A., & Pierce, G. L. (2005). Disrupting illegal firearms markets in Boston: the effects of Operation Ceasefire on the supply of new handguns to criminals. Criminology & Public Policy, 4(4), 717–748.
Braga, A. A., Kennedy, D. M., Waring, E. J., & Piehl, A. M. (2001). Problem-oriented policing, deterrence, and youth violence: An evaluation of Boston's Operation Ceasefire. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 38(3), 195–225.
Brennan, P. G., Lizotte, A. J., & McDowall, D. (1993). Guns, Southernness, and Gun Control. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 9, 289–307.
Bureau of Transportation (2015). RITA BTS Table 1–11. US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
Campbell, J. C., Webster, D., Koziol-McLain, J., Block, C., Campbell, D., Curry, M. A., Gary, F., Glass, N., McFarlane, J., Sachs, C., & Sharps, P. (2003). Risk factors for femicide in abusive relationships: Results from a multisite case control study. American Journal of Public Health, 93(7), 1089–1097.
Carroll, Walter. “Borinsky, Mark” in Carter, G. L. (Ed.). (2002). Guns in American society: An encyclopedia of history, politics, culture, and the law (Vol. 1). ABC-CLIO.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. (2018). Available from URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars.
Chermak, S. M., & Weiss, A. (1997). The effects of the media on federal criminal justice policy. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 8(4), 323–341.
Connor, S. M. (2005). The association between presence of children in the home and firearm-ownership and –storage practices. Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 115(1), e38–e43.
Connor, S., & Wesolowski, K. (2003). “They’re too smart for that”: Predicting what children would do in the presence of guns. Pediatrics, 111(2), e109–e114.
DeZee, M. R. (1983). Gun control legislation: impact and ideology. Law & Policy, 5(3), 367–379.
District of Columbia v. Heller. (2008). Oyez. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2007/07-290.
District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). Brief of academics as amici curiae in support of respondent, No. 07–290.
Dixon, J., & Lizotte, A. J. (1987). Gun Ownership and the “Southern Subculture of Violence”. American Journal of Sociology, 93(2), 383–405.
Dowd, M. D., Sege, R. D., Gardner, H. G., Quinlan, K. P., Ewald, M. B., Ebel, B. E., & Smith, G. A. (2012). Firearm-related injuries affecting the pediatric population. Pediatrics, 130(5), e1416–e1423.
Emmert, Amanda D., Gina Penly Hall, and Alan J. Lizotte. (2017). Do weapons facilitate adolescent delinquency? An examination of weapon carrying and delinquency among adolescents. Crime and Delinquency, 0011128717714466.
Emmert, A. D., & Lizotte, A. J.. (2015). Weapon carrying and use among juveniles. M. D. Krohn and Jodi Lane (Eds.) Handbook on Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice. Wiley-Blackwell.
Farah, M. M., Simon, H. K., & Kellermann, A. L. (1999). Firearms in the home: Parental perceptions. Pediatrics, 104(5), 1059–1063.
Feldman, R. (2011). Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Gastil, R. D. (1971). Homicide and a regional culture of violence. American Sociological Review, 412–427.
Gatheridge, B. J., Miltenberger, R. G., Huneke, D. F., Satterlund, M. J., Mattern, A. R., Johnson, B. M., & Flessner, C. A. (2004). Comparison of two programs to teach firearm injury prevention skills to 6-and 7-year –old children. Pediatrics, 114(3), e294–e299.
Geisel, M. S., Roll, R., & Wettick, R. S., Jr. (1969). The effectiveness of state and local regulation of handguns: a statistical analysis. Duke Law Journal, 647–676.
Gun Mag. (2019) (Ongoing publication). The second amendment foundation. Buffalo. http://www.thegunmag.com/
Hackney, S. (1969). Southern violence. The American Historical Review, 74(3), 906–925.
Hawkins, J. D., Farrington, D. P., & Catalano, R. F. (1998). Reducing violence through the schools. In D. S. Elliot, B. A. Hamburg, & K. R. Williams (Eds.), Violence in American Schools. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hemenway, D. (2017). Private Guns, Public Health. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Heumann, M., & Loftin, C. (1979). Mandatory sentencing and the abolition of plea bargaining: The Michigan felony firearm statute. Law and Society Review, 393–430.
Himle, M. B., Miltenberger, R. G., Gatheridge, B. . J., & Flessner, C. A. (2004). An evaluation of two procedures for training skills to prevent gun play in children. Pediatrics, 113(1), 70–77.
Hofstadter, R. (1970) America as a gun culture. American Heritage.
Howard, P. K. (2005). Evaluation of age-appropriate firearm safety interventions. Pediatric Emergency Care, 21(7), 473–479.
Hureau, D. (2018) Personal communication with Dr. Alan Lizotte.
Ingraham, C. (2015). There Are Now More Guns than People in the United States. Washington, DC: Washington Post.
Jackman, G. A., Farah, M. M., Kellermann, A. L., & Simon, H. K. (2001). Seeing is believing: What do boys do when they find a real gun? Pediatrics, 107(6), 1247–1250.
Johnson, R. M., Runyan, C. W., Coyne-Beasley, T., Lewis, M. A., & Bowling, J. M. (2008). Storage of household firearms: An examination of the attitudes and beliefs of married women with children. Health Education Research, 23(4), 592–602.
Kalesan, B., Villarreal, M. D., Keyes, K. M., & Galea, S. (2016). Gun ownership and social gun culture. Injury Prevention, 22(3), 216–220.
Kellermann, A. L., Rivara, F. P., Rushforth, N. B., Banton, J. G., Reay, D. T., Francisco, J. T., Locci, A. B., Prodzinski, J., Hackman, B. B., & Somes, G. (1993). Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home. New England Journal of Medicine, 329(15), 1084–1091.
Kelso, P., Miltenberger, R., Waters, M., Egemo-Helm, K., & Bagne, A. (2007). Teaching skills to second and third grade children to prevent gun play: A comparison of procedures. Education and Treatment of Children, 30(3), 29–48.
Kennett, L. B., & Anderson, J. L. (1975). The gun in America: The origins of a national dilemma (Vol. 37). Praeger Pub Text.
Kleck, G. (1997). Targeting guns: Firearms and their control. Abingdon: Routledge.
Kleck, G. (2009). Point blank: Guns and violence in America. New York: Transaction Publishers.
Koop, C. E., & Lundberg, G. D. (1992). Violence in America: A public health emergency: Time to bite the bullet back. Journal of the American Medical Association, 267(22), 3075–3076.
Kopel, D. B. (1992). The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
Krouse, W. J. (2012) ‘How Many Guns Are in the United States? - Number.’ Gun Control Legislation, pp. 8–9. Washington, DC: United States Congressional Research Service. 14 November
Kruschke, E. R. (1994). Gun control. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Kukla, R. J. (1973). Gun control. Lanham: Stackpole Books.
Leventhal, J. M., Gaither, J. R., & Sege, R. (2014). Hospitalizations Due to Firearm Injuries in Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics, 133(2), 219–225.
Lindgren, J. (2002). Fall from grace: Arming America and the Bellesiles scandal. Journal of American History, 111(8), 2195–2249.
Lizotte, A. J., & Bordua, D. J. (1980). Firearms ownership for sport and protection: Two divergent models. American Sociological Review, 229–244.
Lizotte, A. J., Bonsell, T. L., McDowall, D., Krohn, M. D., & Thornberry, T. P. (2002). Carrying guns and involvement in crime. In Crime and Justice at the Millennium (pp. 153–167). Springer US.
Lizotte, A. J., Bordua, D. J., & White, C. S. (1981). Firearms ownership for sport and protection: Two not so divergent models. American Sociological Review, 499–503.
Lizotte, A. J., Howard, G. J., Krohn, M. D., & Thornberry, T. P. (1997). Patterns of illegal gun carrying among young urban males. Valparaiso University Law Review, 31(2), 375–393.
Lizotte, A. J., Krohn, M. D., Howell, J. C., Tobin, K., & Howard, G. J. (2000). Factors influencing gun carrying among urban males over the adolescent-young adult life course. Criminology, 38(3), 811–834.
Lizotte, A. J., Tesoriero, J. M., Thornberry, T. P., & Krohn, M. D. (1994). Patterns of adolescent firearms ownership and use. Justice Quarterly, 11(1), 51–74.
Lizotte, A., & Zatz, M. S. (1986). The use and abuse of sentence enhancement for firearms offenses in California. Law and Contemporary Problems, 49(1), 199–221.
Loftin, C., Heumann, M., & McDowall, D. (1983). Mandatory sentencing and firearms violence: Evaluating an alternative to gun control. Law and Society Review, 287–318.
Loftin, C., & Hill, R. H. (1974). Regional subculture and homicide: An examination of the Gastil-Hackney thesis. American Sociological Review, 714–724.
Loftin, C., & McDowall, D. (1984). The deterrent effects of the Florida felony firearm law. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 250–259.
Loftin, C., & McDowall, D. (1981). "One With A Gun Gets You Two": Mandatory Sentencing and Firearms Violence in Detroit. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 455(1), 150–167.
Loftin, C., McDowall, D., Wiersema, B., & Cottey, T. J. (1991). Effects of restrictive licensing of handguns on homicide and suicide in the District of Columbia. New England Journal of Medicine, 325(23), 1615–1620.
Lott, J. (2000). More Gun, Less Crime. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lott, J. R., Jr., & Mustard, D. B. (1997). Crime, deterrence, and right-to-carry concealed handguns. The Journal of Legal Studies, 26(1), 1–68.
Lynch, K. R., & Jackson, D. B. (2018). Ready to Pull the Trigger? Adapting the Health Belief Model to Assess the Implementation of Domestic Violence Gun Policy at the Community Level. Psychology of Violence. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000163.
McDowall, D., Lizotte, A. J., & Wiersema, B. (1991). General deterrence through civilian gun ownership: An evaluation of the quasi-experimental evidence. Criminology., 29(4), 541–559.
McDowall, D., & Lizotte, A. J. (2001). National Rifle Association. In P. S. Boyer (Ed.), The Oxford Companion to United States History. New York: Oxford University Press.
McDowall, D., Loftin, C., & Wiersema, B. (1995a). Easing concealed firearms laws: Effects on homicide in three states. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 193–206.
McDowall, D., Loftin, C., & Wiersema, B. (1992). A comparative study of the preventive effects of mandatory sentencing laws for gun crimes. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 378–394.
McDowall, D., Loftin, C., & Wiersema, B. (1995b). Easing concealed firearms laws: Effects on homicide in three states. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), 86(1), 193–206.
Miller, M., Azrael, D., & Hemenway, D. (2002). Firearm availability and unintentional firearm deaths, suicide, and homicide among 5–14 year olds. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 52(2), 267–275.
Miller, M., & Hemenway, D. (1999). The relationship between firearms and suicide: a review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 4(1), 59–75.
Murray, D. R. (1975). Handguns, gun control laws and firearm violence. Social Problems, 23(1), 81–93.
Newton, G. D., & Zimring, F. E. (1969). Firearms & violence in American life: a staff report submitted to the National Commission on the Causes & Prevention of Violence (Vol. 7). Washington, DC: National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.
Obeng, C. (2010). Should gun safety be taught in schools? Perspectives of teachers. Journal of School Health, 80(8), 394–398.
Obeng, C., & Bowman, S. (2013). Parents’ perspectives on curbing gun violence among children in three counties in Indiana. Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 11(1), 15–22.
O'Connor, J. F., & Lizotte, A. (1978). The “Southern subculture of violence” thesis and patterns of gun ownership. Social Problems, 25(4), 420–429.
Okoro, C. A., Nelson, D. E., Mercy, J. A., Balluz, L. S., Crosby, A. E., & Mokdad, A. H. (2005). Prevalence of household firearms and firearm-storage practices in the 50 states and the District of Columbia: Findings from the behavioral risk factor surveillance system 2002. Pediatrics, 116(3), e370–e376.
Palfrey, J. S., & Palfrey, S. (2013). Preventing gun deaths in children. New England Journal of Medicine, 368(5), 401–403.
Perrin, N. (1979). Giving Up the Gun: Japan’s reversion to the sword, 1543–1879. Boston: David R. Godine.
Price, J. H., Murnan, J., Thompson, A. J., Dake, J. A., & Tellijohann, S. K. (2005). Elementary school teachers’ involvement in firearm safety education. Journal of School Health, 75(3), 105–112.
Reed, J. S. (1972). The Enduring South. Lexington: Lexington Books.
Reno, J. (1998). Personal Correspondence to Alan Lizotte.
Rosenfeld, R., Fornango, R., & Baumer, E. (2005). Did Ceasefire, Compstat, and Exile reduce homicide? Criminology & Public Policy, 4(3), 419–449.
Schmidt, N., Kierkus, C., & Lizotte, A. J. (2016). Do firearms and other weapons increase the odds of injury during an assault? An offender-based analysis. In L. A. Eargle & A. M. Esmail (Eds.), In Gun Violence in American Society: Crime, justice, and public policy (pp. 134–153). Lanham: University Press of America.
Schuman, H., & Presser, S. (1977). Attitude measurement and the gun control paradox. Public Opinion Quarterly, 41(4), 427–438.
Sheley, J. F., & Wright, J. D. (1995). In the line of fire: Youths, guns, and violence in urban America. New York: Transaction Publishers.
Skogan, W. G. (2008). Brief Summary: An Evaluation of CeaseFire-Chicago. Evanston, IL: Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University.
Thornberry, T. P., Krohn, M. D., Lizotte, A. J., Smith, C. A., & Tobin, K. (2003). Gangs and Delinquency in Developmental Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tonso, W. R. (1982). Gun and society: The social and existential roots of the American attachment to firearms. Lanham: University Press of America.
Walden, M. (2015). “The Road to Heller.” Legal Change: Lessons From America's Social Movements, edited by Jennifer Weiss-Wolf and Jeanine Plant-Chirlin, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, pp. 53–62.
Watkins, A. M., & Lizotte, A. J. (2013). Does household gun access increase the risk of attempted suicide? Evidence from a national sample of adolescents. Youth & Society, 45(3), 324–346.
Weinberger, S. E., Hoyt, D. B., Lawrence, H. C., Levin, S., Henley, D. E., Alden, E. R., et al. (2015). Firearm-Related Injury and Death in the United States: A Call to Action From 8 Health Professional Organizations and the American Bar Association Firearm-Related Injury and Death in the United States. Annals of Internal Medicine, 162(7), 513–516.
Winkler, A. (2011). Gunfight: The battle over the right to bear arms in America. New York: WW Norton & Company.
Wintemute, G. J., Betz, M. E., & Ranney, M. L. (2016). Yes, You Can: Physicians, Patients, and Firearms Physicians, Patients, and Firearms. Annals of Internal Medicine, 165(3), 205–213.
Wright, J. D., & Marston, L. L. (1975). The ownership of the means of destruction: Weapons in the United States. Social Problems, 23(1), 93–107.
Wright, J. D., & Rossi, P. H. (1986). Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Weapons. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Wright, J. D., Rossi, P. H., & Daly, K. (1983). Under the gun: Weapons, crime, and violence in America. New York: Transaction Publishers.
Yamane, D. (2017). The sociology of US gun culture. Sociology Compass, 11(7).
Zwerling, C., Lynch, C. F., Burmeister, L. F., & Goertz, U. (1993). The choice of weapons in firearm suicides in Iowa. American Journal of Public Health, 83(11), 1630–1632.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Dr. Marvin D. Krohn and Dr. Arna Carlock for their comments and thoughtful reviews of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lizotte, A.J., Hendrix, N. Shoot first and ask questions later: the interplay of social science research and firearms policy and use. Am J Crim Just 44, 609–627 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-019-09480-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-019-09480-w