Crifasi Cassandra K, Merrill-Francis Molly, Webster Daniel W, Wintemute Garen J, Vernick Jon S
Center for Gun Policy and Research, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Violence Prevention Research Program, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California Davis, Sacramento, California, USA.
Inj Prev. 2019 Sep;25(Suppl 1):i2-i4. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2017-042582. Epub 2018 Jan 13.
The effectiveness of laws depends on circumstances affecting their enforcement. To assess such circumstances for comprehensive background check (CBC) and straw purchase laws for firearm sales, we examined prosecutions for CBC and straw purchase violations in Pennsylvania and CBC violations in Maryland. We generated pre-post variables and conducted t-tests to assess differences in the mean number of prosecutions filed following changes to the legal environments. The annual number of prosecutions for straw purchase violations increased significantly in Pennsylvania following the passage of a law that strengthened penalties for these violations (difference in means = +1310.86, P=0.003). The annual number of prosecutions for CBC violations decreased significantly in Maryland following a court decision that narrowed the definition of a firearm transfer making enforcement more difficult (difference in means = -20.52, P=0.026). Our findings suggest enforcement is likely influenced by the penalties associated with violating these laws and the interpretation of the language of the laws.
法律的有效性取决于影响其执行的各种情况。为了评估枪支销售全面背景调查（CBC）和代买枪支法律的执行情况，我们研究了宾夕法尼亚州对CBC和代买枪支违法行为的起诉以及马里兰州对CBC违法行为的起诉。我们生成了前后变量，并进行了t检验，以评估法律环境变化后起诉案件平均数量的差异。在宾夕法尼亚州通过一项加强对这些违法行为处罚的法律后，代买枪支违法行为的年度起诉数量显著增加（均值差异 = +1310.86，P = 0.003）。在马里兰州，一项法院判决缩小了枪支转让的定义，使得执法更加困难，之后CBC违法行为的年度起诉数量显著下降（均值差异 = -20.52，P = 0.026）。我们的研究结果表明，执法可能受到与违反这些法律相关的处罚以及法律条文解释的影响。
