Discovering Pub Names and Signs by David Brandon

We first review standard law enforcement approaches, including enforcement of existing firearm laws and regulations and the response to individual crimes involving guns (e.g., the investigation and prosecution of such crimes). Both approaches aim to prevent crime in general. Standard law enforcement approaches involve monitoring and reacting to law violations when they occur proactive approaches involve a range of activities that seek to stop crimes before they occur. Ī convenient way to structure our tour of law enforcement activities is to divide our attention between standard (or traditional) law enforcement activities and proactive strategies. We also comment on the existing research evidence. In this essay, we review the range of law enforcement activities focused on enforcing laws that govern the criminal misuse of guns (e.g., illegal possession) and violent crimes committed with guns (e.g., homicides, assaults, and robberies committed with firearms). Although it can be hard to empirically prove that law enforcement actions caused the decline, most commentators conclude that at least some of this drop was caused by the response of law enforcement (Uggen and McElrath, 2013). For example, the homicide rate, which is dominated by crimes that involve firearms, has dropped by 50 percent since 1980, with a large portion of that drop occurring from 1993 to 2014 (James, 2018).

However, the rate at which violent crimes are committed with guns has declined substantially over the past 30 years.

Such policies include universal background checks, bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, extreme risk protection orders, concealed-carry laws, waiting periods, child-access prevention (CAP) laws, minimum age requirements, prohibitions associated with domestic violence, licensing and permitting requirements, and a host of other laws and policies covered elsewhere in RAND’s Gun Policy in America project.ĭebate about new policies rarely includes explicit discussion of what law enforcement is currently doing, under existing laws, to reduce violent crimes committed with guns. The national policy discourse on ways to further reduce gun violence focuses on either enhancing existing laws or passing new laws that could prevent violent crimes committed with guns (e.g., homicides, assaults, robberies) or other forms of gun violence (e.g., fatal and nonfatal firearm suicides, gun accidents). While the rate of violent crimes committed with guns has declined substantially over the past 30 years, more research is needed on which approaches are most effective at reducing gun crime. Summary: Law enforcement agencies use a range of reactive and proactive strategies to respond to and prevent gun crime.

Discovering Pub Names and Signs by David Brandon