How can America stop gun violence?

(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

last updated 4 May 2023

Just four months into the new year, the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence using police reports, has counted over 180 mass shootings in the U.S. alone. And it seems Americans are fed up with the carnage — according to a Fox News poll released April 27, over 75 percent of registered voters said they were in favor of a number of gun reform proposals, including criminal background checks for all buyers (87 percent), mental health checks (80 percent), and improved enforcement of existing laws (81 percent). But what other options are on the table? Here are some policies and suggestions that could prove impactful:

Red flag laws

Critics of red flag laws argue that the policies strip away due process and just flat-out don't work. But a "growing body" of public health research suggests these laws may help prevent gun violence at least some of the time, The New York Times reports. For example, authorities in Florida used the state's ERPO to seize guns from a young man accused of threatening to shoot up his former high school. The attack never unfolded.

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Per the Giffords Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence, semiautomatic, AR-15-style assault weapons — which allow a gunman to fire at a large number of people very quickly — have become "the weapon of choice" for mass shooters. Such firearms have been used in some of the deadliest and most high-profile mass shootings in recent U.S. history, including those at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida; Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut; and the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Though Congress long ago successfully enacted a ban on assault weapons, that legislation expired in 2004, and lawmakers have since failed to pass something similar despite renewed calls to action.

In the wake of the Jan. 21 shooting in Monterey Park, California, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and others introduced the so-called Assault Weapons Ban, which would "ban the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and other high-capacity ammunition feeding devices," per a press release from Feinstein's office. But the measure is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House or the gridlocked Senate, even though President Biden and most Americans support such restrictions. A similar piece of legislation authored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who will introduce a companion version of Feinstein's bill in the House, passed the lower chamber in the summer of 2022 but has yet to get a vote in the Senate.

Much like the public health benefit of raising the drinking age (which saw a noticeable decline in car crashes), raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic weapons could save thousands of lives, advocates say. "There are individuals who absolutely could safely buy and use and own long guns," Cassandra Crifasi, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, told NPR in the wake of the Buffalo supermarket and Robb Elementary School shootings in 2022. "But there are folks who can't, and we've seen that demonstrated with immense tragedy in the last few weeks with Uvalde and with Buffalo."

Some studies also suggest that raising the minimum firearms purchasing age could help reduce the number of suicides, which are "the most common form of gun deaths," per NPR. In one analysis, researchers observed an 18 percent decline in the suicide rate among 18- to 20-year-olds between 2001 and 2017 in states where handgun sales were limited to those aged 21 and older. "Clearly, keeping guns out of the hands of these young, young adults has a profound effect on suicide rates," Michael Siegel, one of the study's authors, told NPR. "And it makes sense because we know that the greatest factor that affects suicide rates is the availability of lethal means, which basically means a gun."

It's unlikely to happen, given opposition from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), but Democrats could attempt to eliminate the filibuster to allow passage of stricter gun laws. As Senate rules currently stand, gun legislation would require at least 60 votes to advance, meaning Democrats would need to bring at least 9 Republicans on board their plans (a daunting task, and one that certainly wouldn't survive a more-restrictive bill given the ideological differences between the two parties). But if Democrats somehow convinced Manchin and Sinema to drop their objections to eliminating the filibuster, the caucus could do away with the threshold and pass gun legislation with a simple majority. Any Senate-passed bill must still clear the GOP-controlled House, but perhaps it would be easier to get a few lawmakers on board over there.

While undoubtedly important, curbing gun violence goes beyond the regulation of the weapons themselves — indeed, a "public health approach" to the matter should involve "building a prevention infrastructure" that, among other things, supports and funds gun violence research, invests in community health and wellbeing, fosters economic development in areas heavily impacted by gun violence, and advances gun safety and self-defense technology, according to recommendations outlined by the Prevention Institute, a health equity nonprofit.

Additional research is also needed to "examine patterns of impulse control, empathy, problem-solving, and anger management across shootings," as well as the link between harmful norms regarding power and privilege — like masculinity — and gun violence, the institute posits. This is not to suggest that the majority of men are responsible for gun violence; rather, it acknowledges the fact that "the majority of people who use guns against others and themselves are boys and men," and that the majority of mass shooters in recent decades have been men, per PI. With that in mind, the nation should be asking itself: "How do expectations about masculinity in different cultural contexts that promote, domination, control, and risk-taking connect to distress, bias and discrimination, and gun violence perpetration?" In answering such questions, perhaps the U.S. can inch toward "a culture of equitable safety."

Regarding gun violence research, the CDC was long restricted in its ability to investigate the matter, thanks to a 1996 rule known as the Dickey Amendment. Passed under pressure from lobbyists, the rule, in theory, only forbade the CDC from using its funding to advocate for gun control, but in practice prevented the agency from gathering "essential" data on gun violence or receiving grant money to do so, per The Washington Post. In 2019, Congress finally reached a deal to send $12.5 million to both the CDC and the National Institutes of Health for gun violence research each year, but data remains woefully behind.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 provides U.S. gun manufacturers and dealers "near blanket immunity from liability for crimes committed with their products," Reuters reports. There are some exceptions to the rule, particularly as they relate to product marketing, but settlements or convictions on that front are few and far between, if not impossible (in one historic instance, families of Sandy Hook victims in late 2022 reached a $73 million settlement with Remington Arms, the company that manufactured the gun used in the massacre).

Sure, "no one benefits from frivolous lawsuits," Time reported in 2018. But manufacturers might be inclined to make their firearms safer if they could be held liable for how they were used. "If pillows caused fatalities at that level, those companies would be bankrupt," Dr. Eric Fleegler, a health services researcher, told Time. "If there were 500 deaths a year associated with any consumer product, it would be banned, regulated, fixed. But here, nothing." In late 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed into law a bill allowing state and local governments as well as private citizens to sue gun manufacturers.

Though doctors view gun violence as a public health issue, many are, at least at times, reluctant to speak with gun-owning patients about firearm safety, especially after certain states attempted to pass gag laws that would prevent physicians from doing so. But if the U.S. could "figure out how to make such safety checks routine, the harm reduction could be significant," health industry professionals Chethan Sathya and Sandeep Kapoor wrote for Scientific American. Doctors "could provide policymakers with valuable insights into how to depolarize, depoliticize, and humanize discussions surrounding the prevention of firearm injuries" with an overall approach that "focuses solely on safety and injury prevention" — no discussion of the Second Amendment required.

Speaking of safety and prevention, the country might also benefit from a refresher on (and legislation pertaining to) safe gun storage, which can reduce both youth suicides and accidental shootings, says Vox's Rachel DuRose. In a report first shared with Vox, gun control advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety found that "nine of the 10 states with the lowest number of unintentional shootings by adolescents have some form of secure storage protection," DuRose summarizes. On the other hand, "the 10 states with the highest rates of unintentional shootings by children have very limited or no secure storage laws."

A safely stored gun is one that is left unloaded, locked up, and away from ammunition, which should be similarly locked up and stored separately, Moms Demand Action volunteer Johanna Thomas told DuRose. While critics might think such measures would make it difficult to access a firearm in case of emergency, Everytown actually found that an unsecured gun does not positively affect an individual's ability to defend herself. Further, it seems safe storage tactics (which could arguably fall under the aforementioned "prevention infrastructure") is something on which most Americans can agree — per a 2019 survey from the APM Research Lab, nearly 7 in 10 Republicans and almost 9 in 10 Democrats were in support of a locked gun mandate, while a "two-thirds majority of gun owners" were in favor, as well.

Though it may prove politically risky, depending on the nature of the order, President Biden could tap into his executive authority to implement gun reform. And on March 14, he did exactly that, announcing an executive order that aims to increase pre-sale background checks, expand red flag laws, strengthen efforts to "hold the gun industry accountable," and empower law enforcement to apprehend shooters, the White House said in a release. The March order is in conjunction with previous executive action on the matter.

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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.