Extensive background checks and denials on gun purchases can aid in gun violence prevention, especially mass shootings, such as the ones that occurred at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Aurora, or Columbine, suggests a top expert on gun violence prevention and an emergency medicine physician at UC Davis, Garen Wintemute.

Wintemute, director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program and inaugural Susan P. Baker-Stephen P. Teret Chair in Violence Prevention at UC Davis says:

“To reduce the number of deaths and injuries from firearms in the United States, we need to develop policies that require background checks for all firearm purchases, including private-party sales, the most important source of firearms for criminal buyers and others who are prohibited from purchasing guns.”

Wintemute’s views were published in the New England Journal of Medicine as a perspective article. The focus of his article was geared towards putting in place harsher credentials for individuals who try to obtain a firearm. He believes criminals who have previously been convicted of a misdemeanor or violent crime should not be allowed to buy a gun.

He also recommends more criteria be set to differentiate between treatable non-violent mental illness and those with a past of mental illness, violence and substance abuse.



The United States only accounts for five percent of the world’s population, and yet holds 40 percent of all firearms that are owned by civilians, according to Wintemute. Additionally, the current laws and policies regarding gun ownership and purchase allow for the broadest group of people to use them under the broadest range of conditions.

Specifically, Wintemute cites the “Stand Your Ground” laws, put into effect at the state level, as harmful and used to validate shootings that should be known as murder.



Wintemute recommends taking a comprehensive stance:

“It may be impossible to predict the next mass shooting incident, and we cannot expect interventions designed for specific circumstances to eliminate the risk of firearm violence. But we can change our firearms laws, based on existing evidence, to reduce harm and better ensure public safety.”

He points out that 40 percent of all firearm sales involve private-party sellers and they do not need to conduct background checks or maintain records. Wintemute suggests policies be put into action to avoid these anonymous and unreported sales, as well as those that prevent sales of guns to those who are more inclined to be violent.

The author’s research has proven that among people who buy firearms legally, those with a prior charge for a misdemeanor violent crime (e.g., assault and battery) are nine times more likely to be arrested again for a violent crime. For individuals with two or more prior convictions, the risk rises by 10 or 15. Also, previous research has established that gun owners who abuse alcohol are at a higher risk than others to participate in violence-related firearm behavior.



He explains:

“We know that comprehensive background checks and expanded denial criteria are feasible and effective, because they are in place in many states and have been evaluated. In California, the denial policy reduced the risk of violence and firearm-related crime by 23 percent among those whose purchases were denied. But we need to broaden these and other effective state-level regulations to eliminate the flow of firearms from states where laws are lax to states where laws are stricter.”

Policies for background checks and sales denials for violent criminals has gained significant public support, even from gun owners. Wintemute’s research came from survey data and several public polls conducted by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Wintemute stresses that putting into action stricter background check and denial policies for gun sales may not get rid of gun violence but it will surely reduce it. He believes we can only change the outcome of horrible tragedies such as that of Sandy Hook by addressing access to guns.



Written by Kelly Fitzgerald