SOURCES OF DATA FOR RESEARCH ON FIREARMS VIOLENCE
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67
68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84
85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101
102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115
We may have some advantage, however, in understanding what consequences
flow from current levels of firearm availability and from efforts by
policy makers to alter those consequences. Or to state our task even more
humbly, we may be better than many other people in understanding what
the studies of these consequences may mean. A consequence of some action
is the concrete, practical reality that is caused by that action. But in the field
we address here, many if not most studies of consequences must make do,
not with direct knowledge of the altered reality, but with data that attempt
to measure that alteration.
The quality of these data is highly variable. We explain in this report
how limited is the knowledge of some of the basic facts. For example, we do
not know exactly who owns what kinds of firearms or how the owners use
them. Moreover, it may not be easy to improve this knowledge. Asking
people whether they own a firearm, what kind it is, and how it is used is
difficult because ownership is a controversial matter for one or more of
several reasons: some people may own a firearm illegally, some may own it
legally but worry that they may use it illegally, and some may react to the
intense public controversy about firearm ownership by becoming less (or
even more) likely to admit to ownership.
Of course these same problems accompany attempts to measure other
behaviors (e.g., illicit use of drugs) and yet ways have been developed to
address these problems in those instances (for a review see National Research
Council, 2001). While not perfect, many substantial resources have
been devoted to addressing the measurement issues that the collection of
sensitive data raises. As we discuss in this report, this has not happened in
the firearms area, in part, because of the substantial opposition to data
collection by interest groups resulting in legal restrictions on collecting
information about firearms ownership.2