Firearm injury hospitalizations and handgun purchaser licensing laws: longitudinal evaluation of state-level purchaser licensure requirements on firearm violence, 2000-2016.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Handgun purchaser licensing (HPL) laws mandate individuals to obtain a license from law enforcement before buying a firearm. Research indicates these laws effectively reduce various forms of fatal firearm violence, including homicides, suicides, and mass shootings. Our study sought to assess the impact of HPL laws on non-fatal firearm violence.

Methods

Utilizing the augmented synthetic control method (ASCM), we estimated the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) resulting from a full repeal of an HPL law in Missouri (2007), a partial repeal in Michigan (2012), and an adoption on HPL law in Maryland (2013) on firearm injury hospitalizations. We utilized RAND's healthcare cost and utilization project-based dataset from 2000 to 2016 for our outcome variable.

SUBMITTER: Doucette ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11342609 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature