New Report Argues for Gun Policy Changes

The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has released a new report concerning gun violence and gun policy in the United States. In the aftermath of the recent shooting in Aurora, Colorado, the report examines the heavy toll of firearm violence on the nation. It describes the extent of the problem in terms of lives lost, money spent, and psychological trauma inflicted. Claiming that firearm homicide rates in the U.S. are twenty times higher than in comparable high-income countries, the authors urge a reconsideration of gun control policies at the state and federal level.

The report presents three key arguments:

1. Access to firearms should be restricted to violent criminals, substance abusers, and young people
2. Right-to-carry laws result in a slight increase in aggravated assaults
3. Firearms with large capacity magazines (LCM) allow for higher casualties in mass shootings, although they are used in only a small percentage of all shootings

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