The Biomac Foundation

Gun violence in the United States is an intensely debated political issue.

Violence is most common in urban areas and in conjunction with youth activity and gang violence.^[1][2] Gun violence is not new in the United States, with the assassinations of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and of Presidents James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. High profile gun violence incidents, such as the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and, more recently, the Columbine High School massacre, the Beltway sniper attacks, and the Virginia Tech massacre, have also fueled debate over gun policies.^[3]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimating 52,447 deliberate and 23,237 accidental non-fatal gunshot injuries in the United States during 2000.^[4] The majority of gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides,^[5] with firearms used in 16,907 suicides in the United States during 2004.^[6] Legal policies at the Federal, state, and local levels have attempted to address gun violence through a variety of methods, including restricting firearms purchasing by youths and other "at-risk" populations, setting waiting periods for firearm purchases, establishing gun "buy-back" programs, targeted law enforcement and policing strategies, stiff sentencing of gun law violators, education programs for parents and children, and community-outreach programs. Research has shown mixed results, finding some policies such as gun "buy-back" programs are ineffective, while Boston's Operation Ceasefire (a gang violence abatement strategy) has been effective as an intervention strategy.^[7] Gun policy in the United States is also highly influenced by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Gun rights advocates generally encourage a strict preservation of the right they see protected by the Second Amendment, whereas some gun control advocates and critics interpret the Amendment differently.

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