In America’s continuing struggle to get a handle on the disproportionate amount of gun violence in this country, several approaches have been tried.
The supposed solutions have been largely ideologically distinct.
The conservative approach has been to fight fire with fire — that is, to relax restrictions on gun ownership and use — on the theory that the best prevention is having an armed citizenry capable of defending itself against armed criminals.
The liberal approach has been to impose greater restrictions on gun purchases, provide financial incentives to turn in firearms already in circulation and limit what types of firearms are made and who can buy them.
There has not been much consensus between the two camps, a divide rooted in their differing interpretations of what the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms means. One thing, though, both sides seem to agree on is that gun owners should be held responsible if their firearms fall into the wrong hands — whether it be those of children or criminals — because of the owners’ carelessness with the lethal weapons.
Regardless of where these approaches lie on the ideological spectrum, they have been around long enough to have their effectiveness gauged by researchers. According to a recent article from The Associated Press, the research is showing about what one might expect.
Here’s what works: laws that permit charging adults who let children have unsupervised access to guns, well-enforced background checks, and banning guns from people who are under domestic violence restraining orders.
Here’s what doesn’t: Stand-your-ground and concealed carry laws, which actually increase gun homicides, and gun buyback programs, which don’t do much of anything other than cost money.
The Associated Press article focused on how Knoxville, Tennessee, teamed up with a research group to analyze violent crime in that Southern city and to come up with a strategy that could be effective as well as realistic. That meant not attempting to restrict gun access, since the Republican-dominated Tennessee legislature, like Mississippi’s, has been going in the opposite direction and would oppose rolling back any of the permissive gun laws it has passed.
The researchers were able to pinpoint the few areas in Knoxville where gun violence was the most prevalent. Efforts of the police as well as church and community organizations are being directed to these “hot spots” in a way that tries to prevent the violence before it takes place. As one small example, for instance, when someone is believed to be a potential target of a revenge shooting, he or she might be given a bus ticket to get out of town for a few days until emotions cool off.
The article said that it’s too early to tell how well the evidence-based approaches are working, but the idea is intriguing. It certainly is relevant for Greenwood, Jackson and a whole lot of other cities in this state that are plagued by gun violence.
When the homicide numbers go up in a community, those in government are usually at a loss for what to do other than focus on arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators. That’s necessary, but it’s also reactive.
If there is a proactive approach that deters the homicides from every occurring, that would be so much better.
