Age restrictions for handguns make little difference in homicides, study
finds

Date:
September 25, 2020
Source:
University of Washington
Summary:
In the United States, individual state laws barring 18- to
20-year-olds from buying or possessing a handgun make little
difference in the rate of homicides involving a gun by people in
that age group, a new study has found.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In the United States, individual state laws barring 18- to 20-year-olds
from buying or possessing a handgun make little difference in the rate of homicides involving a gun by people in that age group, a new University
of Washington study has found.


==========================================================================
"The central issue is that there's a very high degree of informal access
to firearms, such as through family members or illicit channels," said
Caitlin Moe, the study's lead author and a PhD student in epidemiology
in the UW School of Public Health. "And we can't address that kind of availability with age limits." The UW study compared homicide rates
involving firearms in this age group between five states that increased
the minimum age to buy or possess a firearm higher than the nationwide
limits set by the 1994 federal law and the 32 states that did not.

The five states were Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York
and Wyoming.

With the exception of Wyoming, these states also increased the minimum
age for possession of a handgun. (States that raised age limits before
1994 were not included. Washington was not included for this reason,
and the initiative passed in 2018 increasing age limits became law after
the study period, which was 1995 to 2017.) In the study, published in
JAMA Pediatrics, UW researchers found that rates of firearm homicides perpetrated by young adults aged 18 to 20 years old were not significantly different in the two groups of states.

Determining what laws do have an effect on homicide rates is paramount,
she added, because of the roughly 275,000 homicides involving a firearm
during the years studied nearly 36,000 were perpetrated by people in the study's age range. Because most handguns used in crimes by young adults
are acquired from sources unlikely to be affected by age restrictions,
"it is not surprising that we found no association" between state laws
and homicides, the study said.

Also, Moe emphasized, firearms are the second leading cause of death of American youth, after motor vehicle crashes.

"It's incredibly important that we address this major cause of death
in young people," said Moe, who is also affiliated with the Harborview
Injury Prevention & Research Center. And that solution will need to be
a country-wide, unified effort to address the "de facto availability"
of firearms, especially among youth.

Co-authors include Miriam Haviland and Andrew Bowen, Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center; Ali Rowhani-Rahbar and Frederick Rivara,
UW Department of Epidemiology, Harborview Injury Prevention & Research
Center and the UW Department of Pediatrics. This research was funded by
the state of Washington.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Washington. Original
written by Jake Ellison. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Caitlin A. Moe, Miriam J. Haviland, Andrew G. Bowen, Ali
Rowhani-Rahbar,
Frederick P. Rivara. Association of Minimum Age Laws for
Handgun Purchase and Possession With Homicides Perpetrated by
Young Adults Aged 18 to 20 Years. JAMA Pediatrics, 2020; DOI:
10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.3182 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200925113628.htm

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