Abstract
Individuals at the greatest risk of gunshot victimization are often prohibited from legally acquiring guns in the U.S. due to prior felony convictions or other disqualifications. Prohibited persons often rely on others – such as friends, family members, fellow gang members, and gun brokers – to acquire firearms. This study examines whether the sources of guns recovered from high-risk individuals differ relative to the sources of guns recovered more generally in a major U.S. city, and whether illegally-diverted guns are associated with increased gunshot victimization risk. Using official data, we recreate the co-offending network of individuals in Boston who were arrested or contacted by the police with at least one other person between 2007 and 2014. Firearms trace data are then used to develop measures of the shortest distance between individuals and firearms in their immediate network. Results suggest guns with markers of illegal diversion are more likely to be recovered in the highest risk sector of the network and that the probability of gunshot victimization increases with decreased distance to an individual linked to firearms with markers of illegal trafficking.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 113114 |
| Journal | Social Science and Medicine |
| Volume | 259 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2020 |
Funding
This study was funded by grants from the Fund for a Safer Future, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston to the second author. Data were provided through a data sharing agreement with the Boston Police Department. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for the thoughtful feedback that resulted in improvement to this article. We would also like to thank Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, Commissioner William Gross, former Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, David Carabin, and Jennifer Gillis for their support and assistance in acquiring the administrative data analyzed in this article. The findings presented here represent the views of the authors and not those of the City of Boston or the Boston Police Department. This study was funded by grants from the Fund for a Safer Future, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston to the second author. Data were provided through a data sharing agreement with the Boston Police Department. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for the thoughtful feedback that resulted in improvement to this article. We would also like to thank Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, Commissioner William Gross, former Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, David Carabin, and Jennifer Gillis for their support and assistance in acquiring the administrative data analyzed in this article. The findings presented here represent the views of the authors and not those of the City of Boston or the Boston Police Department.
Keywords
- Firearms
- Gunshot injuries
- Public safety
- Social networks
- Trafficking
- Violence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- History and Philosophy of Science
