Cody Jorgensen, an associate professor of criminal justice at Boise State, recently published two journal articles about firearm use in the U.S.
“Examining the effect of permit-less carry laws on violent crime rates in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, and Wyoming” explores the loosening of state regulations regarding carrying a concealed firearm. Permit-less carry laws allow citizens who are legally allowed to own firearms to carry a concealed firearm in public without obtaining a permit. Research consistently finds that these types of laws increase violent crime, and this study examines the effect of permit-less carry laws on violent crime rates in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas and Wyoming, the first states to adopt permit-less carry legislation.
His analysis finds that permit-less carry laws were associated with a substantial increase in aggravated assault in Alaska but generally not associated with changes in violent crime rates in the other states. Moving from RTC to permit-less carry was not found to cause an additional increase in violence on top of the increased violent crime from existing RTC laws.
“Bringing the firepower: Examining the role muzzle energy and caliber of ammunition in the outcome of mass shootings” looks at the effect of muzzle energy and caliber of ammunition on the number of victims killed and injured in mass shootings. The analysis finds that the number of victims killed and injured is related to how powerful the ammunition the firearm uses and how many rounds of ammunition the magazine can hold. The findings are largely explained by the use of assault weapons like the AR-15 and AK-47, which fire high-powered ammunition and typically come with 30-round magazines.
The analysis also finds that the use of assault weapons in mass shootings became much more common after the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004, which has led to mass shootings becoming more deadly and injurious since 2005.