How to Prevent Gun Deaths? Where Experts and the Public Agree

The NYT’s Upshot charted How to Prevent Gun Deaths? Where Experts and the Public Agree. “We conducted a survey on 29 gun control ideas, looking for the intersection of effectiveness and popularity.”

Our expert survey asked dozens of social scientists, lawyers and public health officials how effective each of 29 policies would be in reducing firearm homicide deaths, regardless of their political feasibility or cost. Policies deemed both effective and popular appear in the upper-right corner of the matrix. Less popular, less effective measures fall lower down and to the left.

The two policies ranked most effective were those requiring all sellers to run background checks on anyone who buys a gun, and barring gun sales to people convicted of violent misdemeanors, including domestic assaults. The experts were more skeptical of other much-debated proposals, including a national gun registry and an assault weapons ban. The idea of requiring states to honor out-of-state concealed weapon permits was ranked low.

The academics in our panel — many of the country’s best empirical researchers on gun policy — were far more likely than the general public to support gun control. But nearly all of the policies that experts think could work have widespread support from the general public.

The article goes much deeper, showing the graph highlighting: - What Does Trump Support? - What About Mass Shootings? - Measures Supported by Academics Opposed to Gun Control - Things Law Enforcement Likes

This is really an issue where the public wants more done and the GOP is entirely captured by the NRA which is captured by the gun industry and not the gun consumers.

(Via Kottke)