USA CDC report on gun laws

[erron]

This from the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia news:

Do gun laws prevent violence? Health officials don't know
KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer
(10-02) 22:32 PDT ATLANTA (AP) --

A sweeping federal review of the nation's gun control laws -- including
mandatory waiting periods and bans on certain weapons -- found no proof
such measures reduce firearm violence.

The review, released Thursday, was conducted by a task force of
scientists appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said the report suggests more study is needed, not that gun laws
don't work. But the agency said it has no plans to spend more money on
firearms study.

Some conservatives have said that the CDC should limit itself to
studying diseases, and some have complained in the past that the agency
has used firearms-tracking data to subtly push gun control. In fact,
since a 1996 fight in Congress, the CDC has been prohibited from using
funds to press for gun control laws.

Since then, the task force reviewed 51 published studies about the
effectiveness of eight types of gun-control laws. The laws included bans
on specific firearms or ammunition, measures barring felons from buying
guns, and mandatory waiting periods and firearm registration. None of
the studies were done by the federal government.

In every case, a CDC task force found "insufficient evidence to
determine effectiveness."

"I would not want to speculate on how different groups may interpret
this report," said Dr. Sue Binder, Director of CDC's Center for Injury
Prevention and Control. "It's simply a review of the literature."

Most of the studies were not funded by the CDC. Gun-control advocates
quickly called on the government to fund better research.

A spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said the laws
work, but it is nearly impossible to prove it because people can buy
guns in one state and carry them into one of the handful of states with
strong antigun measures.

"It's hard to study whether gun control laws work in this country
because we have so few of them," said Peter Hamm. "Talking about
studying gun control in this country is like talking about studying
democracy in Iraq."

The National Rifle Association said it needed more time to review the
report before commenting on it.

Firearms injuries were the second leading cause of injury deaths,
killing 28,663 people in 2000, the most recent year for which data was
available. About 58 percent of the deaths were suicides. Gun accidents
claimed about 775 lives that year.

About the only conclusion the task force could draw from the surveys was
that mandatory waiting periods reduced gun suicides in people over 55.
But even that reduction was not big enough to significantly affect gun
suicides for the overall population.

The task force complained that many of the studies were inconsistent,
too narrow, or poorly done.

"When we say we don't know the effect of a law, we don't mean it has no
effect. We mean we don't know," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, chairman of
the CDC task force. "We are calling for additional high-quality
studies."

Among the problems:

* Studies on firearm bans and ammunition bans were inconsistent. Some
showed the bans decreased violence; others found the bans actually
increased violence. Many firearm bans grant exemptions to people who
already owned the weapons, making it hard to tell how well a ban worked.
Other evidence showed that firearms sales go up right before bans take
effect.

* Studies on background checks were also inconsistent, with some showing
decreased firearm injuries and others showing increased injuries. A
major problem with those studies, the report said, was that "denial of
an application does not always stop applicants from acquiring firearms
through other means."

* Only four studies examined the effectiveness of firearm registration
on violent outcomes, and all of the findings were again inconsistent.

* Too few studies have been done on child-access gun laws to gauge their
effectiveness.

* Study periods often are too narrow to tell whether gun laws work. The
task force noted that "rates of violence may affect the passage of
firearms laws, and firearms laws may then affect rates of violence."
(Emphasis added.)