Living in a state with weak gun laws could increase risk of being shot by police

Aaron Kivisto, assistant professor in the College of Applied Behavioral Sciences at the University of Indianapolis, conducted the research along with doctoral student Peter Phalen, in collaboration with Brad Ray, IUPUI assistant professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The American Journal of Public Health will publish their study, "Firearm legislation and fatal police shootings in the United States," on May 18.

Kivisto, lead author of the study, says he and his colleagues utilized data on fatal police shootings in the United States from The Counted, a database developed by U.K.-based newspaper The Guardian. That data, combined with the state gun-law rankings from The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, showed citizens from states with weaker gun laws are significantly more likely to be killed by law enforcement, according to the study.

The researchers examined more than 1,800 fatal police shootings that occurred between January 2015 and October 2016. Their study took into account differences across states in rates of gun ownership, violent crime and other socio-demographic characteristics. The study found that, while laws strengthening background checks appeared to support this effect by reducing the overall number of guns in the community, laws aimed at promoting safe storage and reducing gun trafficking helped to prevent guns already in the community from falling into the wrong hands.

"What's really striking is that the laws that seem to be driving this effect -- closing background-check loopholes, requiring that parents protect their kids from finding their guns in the home -- are the types of laws that large majorities of Americans support," says Kivisto. "These aren't particularly controversial laws, and this study, along with many before it, suggest that they can save a lot of lives," he notes. "These findings also seem to highlight the challenges created for law enforcement by states that have neglected to enact common-sense gun laws supported by most citizens."

Kivisto's research colleague, Peter Phalen, adds: "Currently, the only serious monitoring system for police violence in our country is the media itself, rather than the government or police."

While policy efforts targeting police practices represent one strategy, Kivisto points out that these findings show strengthening state-level gun laws offers promise as a tool for reducing rates of fatal police shootings in the United States.