The Importance of Emphasizing Supply-side Solutions to Gun Violence

• In Event: Toward a Fair and Just Response to Gun Violence

Abstract

Communities ravaged by gun violence seem to be awash in guns. This is no accident. Intentional weaknesses in federal firearms laws and law enforcement practices make it difficult to stop the flow of guns to people who commit violence and to hold those who profit from gun trafficking accountable. Research has shown that gaps in firearms laws contribute to gun crime and that strong upstream policies reduce gun trafficking and gun violence. Constraining the supply of guns to the underground market should also reduce arrests and incarceration for illegal gun possession and for violent crimes committed with firearms.

Author

• Andrew Papachristos, Northwestern University