A space to explore, share and shape the issues facing social and behavioral scientists
SAGE Publishing, the parent of Social Science Space, has collected some of the best and most recent, research on guns, shooters, victims and attitudes into a curated microsite.
Scientific evidence, write Jennifer Carlson and Rina James. is shaped by the broader political and cultural contexts in which gun policy is debated.
Political scientists Monika McDermott and David Jones help readers understand why further restrictions never pass, despite a majority of Americans supporting tighter gun control laws.
Citing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “more Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2020 than in any other year on record,” reports the Pew Research Center in a new report.
The research needed to answer questions about the role of firearms in acts of horrific mass violence doesn’t exist – and part of the problem is that the United States government largely doesn’t support it.
The dean of Boston University’s School of Public Health argues that the relatively limited data the United States’ has available about firearms and firearm violence prevents any serious policy prescriptions from arising. A law that prevents the CDC from funding research that might support gun control has scared all federal funders from touching the issue.
The eternal hunt for funding is the bane of modern research, especially when your research subject is politically sensitive. Garen Wintemute found a way–sadly not one that the average academic can copy–around that: He paid for his gun research himself.
