The Behavioral Science Of Firearms

"This book focuses on how the principles and empirical knowledge within behavioral science can inform and improve firearm-related policy, practice, and research. It features a formal framework for the assessment of civilians seeking firearms permits, reinstatement of their firearms subsequent to revocation, and considerations for relevant others"--

The Behavioral Science of Firearms focuses on applying behavioral science principles and knowledge to inform and improve firearm-related policy, practice, and research. The authors provide comprehensive coverage of relevant case law and legal statutes, as well as issues pertaining to violence, suicide, and gun safety. Additional topics include civilian firearm ownership suitability; considerations for relevant professions (such as the military, law enforcement, and corrections); self-care; and more. Concepts are presented via a best-practices model that promotes empirically-supported decision-making. Drawing on a range of arenas such as psychology, sociology, criminal justice, and law, The Behavioral Science of Firearms is an essential resource for a wide readership, including practitioners, institutional and law enforcement personnel, legislators, and academicians and students in fields such as psychology, criminal justice, and public health.

The Behavioral Science of Firearms focuses on applying behavioral science principles and knowledge to inform and improve firearm-related policy, practice, and research. The authors provide comprehensive coverage of relevant case law and legal statutes, as well as issues pertaining to violence, suicide, and gun safety. Additional topics include civilian firearm ownership suitability; considerations for relevant professions (such as the military, law enforcement, and corrections); self-care; and more. Concepts are presented via a best-practices model that promotes empirically-supported decision-making. Drawing on a range of arenas such as psychology, sociology, criminal justice, and law, The Behavioral Science of Firearms is an essential resource for a wide readership, including practitioners, institutional and law enforcement personnel, legislators, and academicians and students in fields such as psychology, criminal justice, and public health.

The essential guide for medical and mental health professionals who need to understand what to Know, Ask, Do (KAD) when firearm-related issues arise in their practices. In Firearms and Clinical Practice, Gianni Pirelli and Sarah DeMarco provide medical and mental health professionals with a practical guide on the intersection between mental health and firearms. Utilizing a best-practices model that encourages empirically-supported practice and decision-making, the authors present case examples, vignettes, and useful tips for medical and mental health professionals to navigate gun-related issues that may arise in practice. They further outline and review formal frameworks and models for clinicians to incorporate when firearm-related issues arise in therapeutic contexts, especially when the assessment of suicide and violence risk is necessary. In addition, they assess newly developed forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) models and applications for evaluating civilians seeking initial firearms permits, gun rights restoration, and reinstatement of firearms subsequent to revocation and forfeiture matters. Firearms and Clinical Practice is a must-have resource for a wide range of medical and mental health practitioners, designed to help readers apply firearm-related information, concepts grounded in the empirical literature, and best practices in the clinical and forensic treatment and evaluation arenas.

For years proposals for gun control and the ownership of firearms have been among the most contentious issues in American politics. For public authorities to make reasonable decisions on these matters, they must take into account facts about the relationship between guns and violence as well as conflicting constitutional claims and divided public opinion. In performing these tasks, legislators need adequate data and research to judge both the effects of firearms on violence and the effects of different violence control policies. Readers of the research literature on firearms may sometimes find themselves unable to distinguish scholarship from advocacy. Given the importance of this issue, there is a pressing need for a clear and unbiased assessment of the existing portfolio of data and research. Firearms and Violence uses conventional standards of science to examine three major themes - firearms and violence, the quality of research, and the quality of data available. The book assesses the strengths and limitations of current databases, examining current research studies on firearm use and the efforts to reduce unjustified firearm use and suggests ways in which they can be improved.

There are many issues in the role of firearms and personal violence (suicide and homicide). Do strict gun control laws have a preventive impact on the use of firearms for personal violence? Does the prevalence of firearm ownership impact the use of firearms for personal violence? Do people perceive the different methods for suicide differently? Are there certain types of people and situations that favor the use of guns for personal violence? Are there possibilities for reducing the role of firearms in personal violence other than reducing their prevalence? What is the experience of other nations (Australia and Canada) in coping with the role of firearms in personal violence? This book will explore the answers to these questions.

For years proposals for gun control and the ownership of firearms have been among the most contentious issues in American politics. For public authorities to make reasonable decisions on these matters, they must take into account facts about the relationship between guns and violence as well as conflicting constitutional claims and divided public opinion. In performing these tasks, legislators need adequate data and research to judge both the effects of firearms on violence and the effects of different violence control policies. Readers of the research literature on firearms may sometimes find themselves unable to distinguish scholarship from advocacy. Given the importance of this issue, there is a pressing need for a clear and unbiased assessment of the existing portfolio of data and research. Firearms and Violence uses conventional standards of science to examine three major themes - firearms and violence, the quality of research, and the quality of data available. The book assesses the strengths and limitations of current databases, examining current research studies on firearm use and the efforts to reduce unjustified firearm use and suggests ways in which they can be improved.

Armed and Considered Dangerous is a book about "bad guys" and their guns. But Wright and Rossi contend that for every suspected criminal who owns and abuses a firearm, a hundred or more average citizens own guns for sport, for recreation, for self-protection, and for other reasons generally regarded as appropriate or legitimate. Armed and Considered Dangerous is the most ambitious survey ever undertaken of criminal acquisition, possession, and use of guns. There are vast differences between the average gun owner and the average gun-abusing felon, but the analyses reported here do not suggest any obvious way to translate these differences into gun control policies. Most policy implications drawn from the book are negative in character: this will not work for this reason, that will not work for that reason, and so on. When experts are asked, "Okay, then what will work?" they usually fall back on the old warhorses of poverty, the drug problem, or the inadequate resources of the criminal justice system, and otherwise have little to say. This is not a failure of social science. It simply asks more of the data than the data were ever intended to provide. Several of Wright and Rossi's findings have become "coin of the realm" in the gun control debate, cited frequently by persons who have long since forgotten where the data came from or what their limitations are. Several other findings, including many that are important, have been largely ignored. Still other findings have been superseded by better and more recent data or rendered anachronistic by intervening events. With the inclusion of a new introduction detailing recent statistics and updated information this new edition of Armed and Considered Dangerous is a rich source of information for all interested in learning about weapon behavior and ownership in America.