“Our study gets to the heart of the notion that ‘guns don’t kill people; people kill people,’” said Anthony Braga, a Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice at Northeastern. “That slogan is based on the contention that gun control is ineffective because if a person wants to kill someone, they will find a way to do it, no matter what types of weapons are available.”

The study, which was published in JAMA Network Open and funded by the United States Bureau of Justice Assistance, concludes that it is incorrect to dismiss firepower as a factor in shooting fatalities. The authors do not propose any specific gun control measures and acknowledge that both the intent of the shooter and chance also play a role in whether the victim lives or dies.

But the study shows that gun caliber is also a significant factor in survival rates, according to co-author Philip Cook, professor emeritus at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

“People who oppose gun control are not convinced that the type of weapon matters,” he said. “We are not saying caliber is more important than intent. What we show, very specifically, is that if you decrease the caliber of the guns, the number of deaths would drop by 40 percent.”