abstract: Rates of domestic violence (DV) gun homicide in Arizona consistently exceed the national average (Everytown, 2015). For perpetrators, firearms continue to be their primary weapon of choice in DV homicides (Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, 2015). In Arizona, civil DV protection orders (POs) help reduce the growing rates of gun homicide through firearm removal provisions. Questioning how firearms shape judicial decision-making, this thesis contributes to existing literature on firearms and DV by exploring how judges come to interpret findings of credible threat and which factors are associated with judicial decisions to grant firearm removal pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-3601. This thesis reveals how courts navigate competing concerns around victim safety and gun rights. Secondary qualitative and quantitative data collected as part of Dr. Alesha Durfee’s National Institute of Justice Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships Grant “Investigating the Impacts of Institutional and Contextual Factors on Protection Order Decision-Making” (Dr. Alesha Durfee, PI; Mesa Municipal Court and National Center for State Courts, co-PIs) (2015-IJ-CX-0013) are analyzed in this thesis. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Women and Gender Studies 2017

Forensic ballistics Abstract This thesis deals with one of the disciplines falling under forensic science, forensic ballistics. Forensic ballistics is a forensic field focused on firearms, ammunition and other objects used in shooting incidents associated with committing a crime. The aim of this thesis is to provide a basic explanation of the term forensic ballistics, ballistics evidence and briefly describe the most important methods of ballistics examination. At the end is also mentioned the legislation of firearms and ammunition. The diploma is divided into five chapters. First chapter is focused on the history of forensic ballistics, one part of this chapter describes the history on the territory of the Czech Republic, the other part deals with worldwide history. This section is complemented by several case that have become significant milestones for forensic ballistics, such as the case of Charles Stielow from the US state of New York. The following chapter provides a definition of forensic ballistics, its purpose and divides ballistics into several parts. Forensic ballistics is composed of four basic areas internal, intermediate, external and terminal ballistics and two others dealing with phenomena occur before and after the actual shot prenatal and postterminal ballistics. In the other part of the...

Exposure to community gun violence is increasing a sense of anxiety and hypervigilance in American society today. Whether or not they are direct victims, American children and adolescents often become casualties of community gun violence. Their safety, well-being, and even survival are at risk due to continued exposure to gun violence in their communities. This study utilized a retrospective sample of adolescents derived from the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) to understand the prevalence and severity of cognitive and emotional symptoms associated with childhood exposure to community gun violence compared to other types of adverse childhood events. The results showed that adolescents who have been exposed to community gun violence self-reported higher levels of negative emotion and cognitive disturbance in comparison to peers who have had no exposure to these forms of adverse events. Compared to these peers reporting no adverse events, an increase of 30% was observed in negative emotions and 33% in cognitive disturbance when the adolescent is exposed to community gun violence. An increase of 22% in negative emotions and 30% in cognitive disturbance was observed when an adolescent is exposed to other forms of community disorder. Finally, adolescent participants who were exposed to childhood adverse events other than community disorder and gun violence reported 8% greater negative emotions and 28% greater cognitive disturbance than peers reporting no adverse events during adolescence. These results suggest that exposure to gun violence promotes negative emotionality and increases cognitive disturbance.

This thesis reviews many of the historical, constitutional and legal factors behind today's gun control policy and how they relate to the laws governing the carrying of concealed firearms within the state of Oregon. Many legal cases are explored for their impact on the carriage of concealed weapons. A thorough examination was made of the Oregon legislative history behind HB 3470, sponsored by then-House Speaker Vera Katz, which was enacted in July 1989, was effective January 1, 1990, and became the kernel of the snowball passage of CCW (carry concealed weapon) laws within the United States. Statistical tests were conducted and revealed that the passage of the Oregon law did not result in an increased murder rate. The paper concludes by exploring the arguments raised against the concealed handgun licensing law in Oregon. These arguments are found to be both historically inaccurate and statistically inadequate.

This thesis examines the significant gun control legislation enacted in the United States, and the movement to enact it. It is a contention of this thesis that sentiment favoring gun control comes essentially from urban areas which are most remote from America’s frontier heritage, and the common usage of firearms. Sentiment opposing gun control, on the other hand, comes primarily from the West and South which are the areas nearest the frontier heritage. The popularity of firearms in the United States is also due, in large measure, to the pioneer background of this nation. This thesis also contends that firearms legislation thus far enacted in America has been ineffective in reducing crime, and that further legislation could only inconvenience the honest citizen.

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Gun-free zones have the potential to increase or decrease the risk of gun crime and active shootings that occur within their borders. People who assume that gun-free zones increase gun related outcomes believe that the lack of the ability for law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm, and thus an inability to engage in defensive gun use if a threat presented itself, makes gun-free zones a soft target for crime. Those that assume gun-free zones decrease gun related outcomes believe the absence of firearms eliminates the risk of an escalation of violence to gunfire. Up until this point, there has been no quantitative research on the effectiveness of gun-free zones, despite the topic being highly controversial. This dissertation was therefore the first to: create and describe a dataset of active shootings in the United States, and assess the extent to which defensive gun use occurs during these events (Aim 1); conduct a cross-sectional ecological analysis for the in St. Louis, Missouri (2019), both city and county, comparing the proportion of crimes committed with a firearm that occur in gun-free school zones compared to gun-allowing zones immediately surrounding the gun-free zone to quantify the effectiveness of gun-free school zones and (Aim 2); conduct a spatial ecological case-control study in the United States where cases are the locations or establishments of active shootings between 2014 and 2020, to quantify the impact of gun-free zones on active shootings, and assess if active shooters target gun-free zones (Aim 3). The results of Aim 1 of this study suggested that defensive gun use during active shootings was rare, usually does not stop the attack, and does not decrease the number of casualties compared to active shootings without defensive use. Aim 1 also thoroughly described the novel active shooting dataset. I found in Aim 2 that gun-free school zones had fewer crimes committed with a firearm than corresponding gun-allowing zones in St. Louis, MO in 2019. There were 13.4% fewer crimes involving a firearm in gun-free school zones, with a confidence interval ranging from 23.6% fewer to 1.8% fewer (p-value: 0.025). Aim 3 determined that the conditional odds of an active shooting in an establishment that was gun-free were 0.375 times the odds of an active shooting in a gun-allowing establishment with a confidence interval ranging from 0.193 to 0.728 (p-value<0.01), suggesting that gun-free zones did not attract active shooters, and may even be preventative. In conclusion, gun-free zones did not appear to increase gun related outcomes and may even be protective against active shootings. Efforts across the United States to repeal laws related to gun-free zones, due to the belief that gun-free zones are targeted for violence, are therefore not backed by data. However, these are the first quantitative studies ever conducted on the effectiveness of gun-free zones, so more research is needed to build on the results of this dissertation.

This study, framed in the criminal events perspective, investigates situational and contextual factors of violent interpersonal encounters that impact the likelihood of offender weapon usage and, when a weapon is used, the likelihood that it will be a firearm. Furthermore, this study examines the effects that weapons have on levels of victim injury along with other factors that may impact injury independent of weapon use. Three specific topics of interest are addressed: whether or not black offenders were more likely to make use of a firearm, what factors impact firearm use amongst female offenders, and if the findings of Kleck and McElrath (1991), which stated that firearm use largely prevents injury, but when victim injury does occur, it is more likely to be lethal, could be replicated using a more recent and comprehensive source of information. Data were collected from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Findings were that black offenders were more likely to use firearms, but this pattern is essentially limited to black male offenders. Female offenders were more likely to use a firearm against a stranger and during the course of a robbery. Finally, firearm use was associated with a decrease in the likelihood of a victim suffering nonlethal injury, but when injury did occur, firearms significantly increased the chances of victim death. Theoretical and policy implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

No description available.

No description available.