Critique of Scholarly Article on Guns and Crime
Focus and Findings
In their article Gun Ownership as a Risk Factor For Homicide in The Home, Arthur Kellerman and his colleagues state that gun ownership increases the risk of violent crimes in the home instead of conferring protection. However, after reviewing their claims a number of flaws in their research and data collection methods are evident. There are a series of inappropriate conclusions and validity concerns throughout the article – having realized that these exist – it is impossible to sustain that gun ownership leads to higher homicide rates. Further research is needed to determine if a casual relationship is at all present and then to ascertain the true nature of the potential link.
Kellermann, et al. relies upon their analysis to call for stricter gun control measures but because of the unreliability of their conclusions, these findings cannot be accepted as valid. The memo will show these concerns and demonstrate how the analysis provided on Gun Ownership as a Risk Factor For Homicide in The Home is not appropriate for determining changes to policies in gun ownership regulations.
Key Policy Questions
Kellermann et al. attempt to address whether owning a fire arm increases the risk factors for violent crimes in the home instead of conferring protection against delinquency as commonly thought. In essence, the article seeks to examine whether a policy that reduces residential gun ownership would have a positive effect in decreasing violent crimes in homes.
Research and Data Methodology
The authors identified the incidences of homicide occurring in homes across three metropolitan counties by establishing proxies for the deceased people and selecting a contro...
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... not sufficient to current gun control policies.
Resources
1. Kellermann, Arthur L., et al. “Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home.” New England Journal of Medicine 329.15 (1993): 1084-1091. Print.
2. Nelson, LM., et al. “Proxy respondents in epidemiologic research.” Epidemiologic Reviews (1990): 12:71-86.
3. Mimi, C. Yu, et al. “Hepatitis, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and hepatocellular carcinoma in Los Angeles.” Cancer research 43.12 Part 1 (1983): 6077-6079.
4. Kleck, G. “Crime control through the private use of armed force.” Social Problems (1988): 35:1-21
5. Rogot, E and D.D. Reid. “The validity of data from next-of-kin in studies of mortality among migrants.” International Journal of Epidemiology 4.1 (1975): 51-54
6. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States, 1992. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1993
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