Gun buyers convicted of drunk driving are at a significantly higher risk of committing violent crimes, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, tracked nearly 80,000 people who bought firearms in the Golden State from 2001 to 2013 and found that owners with DUI convictions and no other criminal history were nearly three times more likely to be arrested for violent gun crimes than those with no criminal record.
The results were published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, joining a substantial body of research indicating an alarming correlation between alcohol use and gun violence.
A new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that people gun buyers with a prior DUI conviction are nearly three times more likely to commit violent crimes than buyers with no prior criminal record. A chart from the study is shown above
Of the 79,678 gun purchasers included in the study, 1,511 (1.9 percent) had prior DUI convictions and 13,292 (16.7 percent) had prior arrests or convictions for another offense.
Researchers found that nine percent of buyers with a prior DUI conviction were subsequently arrested for murder, rape, robbery or aggravated assault within 13 years of when they purchased a firearm.
By comparison, two percent of buyers with no criminal history were subsequently arrested for one of those crimes.
‘What we’re finding is that having a DUI at the time of purchase is actually an indicator of increased risk for future violence,’ Rose Kagawa, who led the study as an assistant professor and researcher at the UC Davis Violence Prevention Program, told the Sacramento Bee.
UC Davis has been researching the link between alcohol consumption and firearms for more than two decades.
A study of more than 4,000 people who bought guns between 1997 and 2001 found that drinking alcohol can be a predictor for violent behavior, including gun-related crimes.
Some gun owners in that study also reported having riskier drinking habits than people who don’t have guns.
Another study from 2013 found that one-third of the people who committed homicides with a firearm were under the influence of alcohol during the crime.
The results of the UCDavis study were published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, joining a substantial body of research indicating an alarming correlation between alcohol use and gun violence (file photo)
One goal of the latest study was to provide evidence for lawmakers to use when regulating gun sales.
The report notes that the federal government and many states have restricted the purchase of firearms by ‘high-risk groups’, including convicted felons and people with a record of domestic violence or other violent misdemeanors.
‘The available evidence suggests that such policies may reduce the incidence of violent criminal activity among persons whose access to firearms is restricted,’ the report states.
‘Our findings suggest that comparable benefits may arise from similar restrictions on persons convicted of DUI crimes.’
Kagawa said the findings were ‘important’, but she cautioned against drawing strong conclusions from the results.
‘We have a history of prohibiting (people) from purchasing or possessing firearms based on risk factors,’ Kagawa said.
‘What this study doesn’t do is say whether such a restriction will actually reduce violence because we’re not evaluating (that outcome).’
California State Sen Hannah-Beth Jackson, the author of a bill that would curb gun ownership by people with repeat alcohol convictions, praised the study findings.
‘As our nation faces an epidemic of gun violence, we must pursue data-driven policies that will help keep deadly firearms out of the hands of those most at risk of committing future violent and firearm-related crimes,’ Jackson said in a statement.
‘This research clearly demonstrates a link between DUI convictions among handgun purchasers and future violence.’
Jackson’s legislation, Senate Bill 55, is currently stalled in the Assembly Public Safety Committee, according to SacBee, but the senator is dedicated to moving it forward.
Several states have enacted laws regulating gun ownership by people with a history of alcohol abuse.
In Tennessee, is is illegal for anyone ‘addicted to alcohol’ to buy a gun. Ohio has a similar law prohibiting gun sales to ‘habitual drunkards’.
In 2013, then-California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have implemented a 10-year ban on gun purchases by people with at least two DUI convictions.