Dr. Rosenberg argues that the prevention of gun violence and gun rights are not in conflict. It is possible, he said, to devise policies that protect both gun owners’ rights and public health. Dr. Swanson believes that red flag laws are just such a policy. The impetus for them has been prepared for 10 years.
In January 2013, just weeks after a gunman killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Daniel Webster, a pioneer in the study of gun violence, convened a two-day summit to reduce gun violence.
Together with Mr. Horwitz, Dr. Webster runs the Hopkins Center for Solutions to Arms Violence. Mr. Horwitz leads advocacy while Dr. Webster oversees academic research. The purpose of the summit, Dr. Webster said, is to gather evidence-based “recommendations on what politicians should do to tackle gun violence in America” and publish them quickly to influence of the negotiations in Congress.
But the resulting book — including chapters by Dr. Swanson and Dr. Wintemuth — failed to move members of Congress who did not pass new laws.
Two months later, Mr. Horwitz convened a research consortium, he said, “to really consider how to deal with this problem with firearms, mass shootings, suicides, without stigmatizing people with mental illness.”
Soon, Dr. Swanson, Mr. Horwitz, and others in the consortium began traveling around the country, promoting evidence-based policies, including red flag laws, to state lawmakers. In 2014, California became the first state after Indiana to pass a red flag law. Today, there are 19 states and the District of Columbia.
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