Geoff: As the nation mourns the
lives lost in uvalde, Buffalo
and Tulsa, each day Americans
are dealing with gun violence
that does not make national
news.
Since just yesterday, there have
been shootings with multiple
people wounded or killed in
Phoenix, Arizona; Hampton,
Virginia; and Houston, Texas.
To discuss this epidemic of gun
violence, I'm joined by Joshua
Horwitz.
He's co-director of the center
for gun violence solutions at
Johns Hopkins university.
It is good to have you with us.
The spike in gun violence since
summer 2020 has been widespread
-- across cities and states with
lax and strict gun laws, with
Progressive and conservative
prosecutors, as well as
Republican and democratic mayors
and governors.
What accounts for it?
Joshua: What we are seeing, the
latest numbers from 2020, the
CDC data, shows homicide is up
35%.
While we don't have all of the
answers, there was a trend that
correlates with the risk of
violence.
There has been a huge
displacement of social supports,
which I think it's a big issue.
When you can't interact with
your favorite teacher or program
is halted because of the
pandemic, those types of
supports are extremely
important.
There are other things going on.
We sing -- we have seen record
gun sales, states make it easier
to carry concealed, and also
alcohol, which is a big factor.
We don't know how this is going
to play out but there are
disturbing trends playing out
through the pandemic.
Geoff: Right now there is a
bipartisan senate group
considering making changes to
red flag laws and incentivizing
states to set up flag laws.
They want to expand back ground
checks, increase funding for
mental health services.
Would any of that make a
significant difference as you
see it?
Joshua: I do.
I'm a big proponent of red flag
laws or extreme risk protection
orders, to remove guns from
people at risk of a danger to
themselves or others, it seems
to be an important step.
There was one in New York and it
wasn't used, and implementation
is important.
Texas doesn't even have the
opportunity to do this, and we
know there were warning signs
with the shooter, warning signs
in Buffalo, and we are
developing a body of evidence
that is showing where this is
effective.
It is very important when people
are showing warning signs of
violence, that we believe them.
When someone says I'm going to
hurt myself or shoot up a
school, friends, family, law
enforcement needs to step in.
What I like about these risk
protection orders, they are
civil, temporary, and immediate.
They get the guns out of the
hands of someone at risk when it
Geoff: What about an assault
weapons ban?
President Biden has called for
that, and we know from reporting
the votes do not exist on the
hill right now.
The last federal assault weapons
ban expired in 2004.
Was that a tipping in the uptick
point of mass shootings?
Joshua: There have certainly
been more mass shootings since
it expired.
A lot of them are done with an
ar-15.
What makes them deadly is large
capacity magazines.
You can get these in 20, 30, 50,
even 100 rounds.
There is evidence large capacity
magazines are a big issue.
When we prohibited those, there
were fewer mass shootings a loss
of life.
I think the large capacity
magazines and assault weapons
are a deadly combination.
Geoff: According to FBI data, it
appears that far more people are
killed each year by handguns,
despite the attention on the ar
platform style weapons.
How should lawmakers address the
proliferation of handguns?
Joshua: We need handgun
licensing.
Those states that have it have a
lower rate, reduced gun
violence.
Handgun licensing reduces
homicide rates and affects
suicide, reduces mass shootings.
Licensing is a really powerful
tool and if you look at states
like Connecticut, where there is
good data, they really reduced
their rate of gun violence
because of the licensing law.
In a place like Missouri where
they got rid of it, the homicide
rate went up.
We know what to do here.
We have good solutions, good
answers, the reason we don't
have that is our choices that
elected officials are making,
making that are choices to save
lives, because doing nothing is
doing nothing for geoff: What
are the solutions?
Separate from the political
debate, if you were to implement
a policy prescription that would
address the epidemic of gun
violence, what would it look
like?
Joshua: I will give you a couple
of things.
I would start with licensing law
I described, robust gun removal
statutes, protection removal
laws in every state.
I would have a ban on large
capacity magazines.
I would make sure those between
18 and 21 cannot get any
firearms, especially an assault
weapon, and invest heavily in
violence interruption
programming.
There are many more things we
can do, but those are five
things that would really work.
If you put them together, we can
save so many lives this country
and we are just not doing it.