The author proposes a public health approach to gun violence prevention in the US, encompassing elements of criminal justice, mental health, and safety. He focuses on the most important public health effects of firearms and does not explore the benefits or costs, or gun use in wars or by the police. He recommends specific policies to reduce injuries from firearms, and summarizes the public health effects of their availability and policies. He discusses the nature and extent of the gun injury prevention problem in the US and the prevalence of firearms; the public health approach to reducing the problem and the history and scientific basis of injury prevention and control as a public health field, differences from gun advocates’ view of the world as “good guys” vs. “bad guys,” and why the public health perspective leads to more effective policy prescriptions; how firearms contribute to accidents, suicides, and homicides, as well as robberies, assaults, and other crimes; the scientific evidence on the role of firearms in deterring crime, the frequency of self-defense gun use, whether these incidents are socially beneficial, and the evidence on whether armed resistance against attackers makes sense; guns in the home, schools, and in public; the risk of injury to young children, adolescents and young adults, women, and African Americans; opportunities for regulations of manufacturers and sellers; the policy background, including the Second Amendment, public opinion, and past regulations; the limitations of gun advocates’ approach and the inaccuracies of their claims, lessons that can be learned from the public health approach to products like tobacco and alcohol, the approaches of other countries, and the effects of the US policies on them; and policy ideas. This edition includes a new preface on key events and research since the publication of the first edition in 2004. Annotation ©2017 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com) Read Less