Research

Optimism bias is common across health risk assessments, including firearm injury risk, and can have behavioral consequences.

A 2022 survey in the USA found concerningly high prevalences of support for and personal willingness to engage in political violence, of beliefs associated with such violence, and of belief that civil war was likely in the near future. It is important to determine the durability of those findings.

How do firearm owners and nonowners in the United States differ in support for and willingness to engage in political violence, and how do these measures vary among subsets of firearm owners?

The U.S. prohibits firearm purchase among individuals with specific risk factors. These prohibitions are operationalized using background checks for firearm purchase. Despite these restrictions, prohibited persons have obtained firearms after passing background checks, sometimes with devastating effects.

Firearm violence is a major cause of death and injury in the United States. Tracking the movement of firearms from legal purchase to use in crimes can help inform prevention of firearm injuries and deaths. The last state-wide studies analyzing crime gun recoveries used data from over 20 years ago; thus, an update is needed.

Identifying groups at increased risk for political violence can support prevention efforts. We determine whether “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) Republicans, as defined, are potentially such a group.

• Respondents reported their views on 8 right-wing extremist groups and social movements: the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, white supremacy movement, militia movement, boogaloo movement, QAnon, and Christian nationalism.
• Based on respondents’ answers for individual groups and movements, we created an aggregate measure of approval for all 8 taken together; 1.4% of respondents were classified as “strong approvers” on this measure.
• As compared with non-approvers, strong approvers were far more likely to view political viole

Prohibiting the purchase and possession of firearms by those at risk of violence is an established approach to preventing firearm violence. Prior studies of legal purchasers have focused on convictions for specific crimes, such as violent misdemeanors and driving under the influence (DUI). We broaden that line of inquiry by investigating and comparing the associations between prior arrests for most categories of crime and subsequent arrest for violent offenses among legal handgun purchasers in California.

How familiar are law enforcement officers (LEOs) with extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs), and in what circumstances do they consider ERPOs to be appropriate?

This survey study of 283 active-duty LEOs in states with ERPO laws found that knowledge of ERPOs was high, but willingness to use ERPOs varied. Across all provided scenarios, LEOs with ERPO training or experience were substantially more likely to support the use of ERPOs than those without.

Current conditions in the USA suggest an increasing risk for political violence. Little is known about the prevalence of beliefs that might lead to political violence, about support for and personal willingness to engage in political violence, and about how those measures vary with individual characteristics, lethality of violence, political objectives that violence might advance, or specific populations as targets.