Garen Wintemute

Garen Wintemute is director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, and the author of The Crime Drop in America, from which the following viewpoint is excerpted. In it he discusses the decline in firearm violence that the United States has experienced since 1993 and attributes this decline to the success of several gun control initiatives. For example, he notes, in the 1990s many cities enforced gun laws more strictly and many states increased the sentences for gun crimes. The federal government also reduced the number of licensed firearms dealers. Perhaps most importantly, the federal Brady Act introduced waiting periods in order to reduce criminals’ access to guns. While much work remains to be done, concludes Wintemute, these initiatives show that gun control laws can reduce crime.

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