Abstract
An important objective of successful gun violence prevention policy is to keep guns from high-risk individuals without infringing on the rights of lawabiding citizens to use firearms for protection or recreation. Given the potential of laws designed to keep gunsfrom dangerous individuals to save lives, the categories of individuals to be prohibited from possessing firearms merits careful consideration. The goals of this chapter are to (1) briefly review the current federal prohibitory criteria for firearm possession and therationale for these prohibitions, (2) make the case for broadening these criteria to limit access to firearms among additional categories of individuals, and (3) put forth specific policy recommendations based on the available research evidence. This chapter does notaddress prohibitory criteria related to mental health status and onlytouches on prohibitions for violent misdemeanants,because thesearecovered elsewhere in this volume.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Reducing Gun Violence in America |
| Subtitle of host publication | Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis |
| Publisher | The Johns Hopkins University Press |
| Pages | 65-76 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Volume | 9781421411118 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781421411118 |
| ISBN (Print) | 1421411105, 9781421411101 |
| State | Published - 2013 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Social Sciences