DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36688.v1
title: Firearm Legislation and Firearm Violence Across Space and Time, United States, 1970-2012
title: Version 1

description: These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.
The study constructed a comprehensive, longitudinal dataset of all counties nested within U.S. States from 1970 to 2012. The study's main purpose was to facilitate research that would further understanding on firearm legislation and its impacts on violence. This comprehensive data collection effort included information on firearm legislation implemented across U.S. States over time in combination with multiple measures of firearm-related violence and injury. Moreover, to better understand the conditions under which firearm legislation is more or less effective, incorporation of county characteristics allowed for examination of whether the effectiveness of state-level firearm legislation depends upon particular characteristics of counties. The researchers conducted a secondary analysis utilizing a variety of archived external government and census sources.
<strong>The Study's Dataset Include two Stata Files:</strong>

CJRC_firearms_research.dta (95 Variables, 129,027 Cases)
state_law_data.dta (19 Variables, 2,168 Cases)
description: This study's main purpose was to facilitate research that will further understanding on firearm legislation and its impacts on violence. Through a comprehensive data collection effort, it included information on firearm legislation implemented across U.S. states over time in combination with multiple measures of firearm-related violence and injury. Moreover, to better understand the conditions under which firearm legislation is more or less effective the researchers incorporated information on state and county-level indicators of firearm prevalence, firearm shops, enforcement of firearm laws, social norms about firearm ownership, demographics on racial and economic inequality, and access to healthcare like emergency care and mental health services. Incorporation of these county characteristics allows for examination of whether the effectiveness of state-level firearm legislation depends upon particular characteristics of counties. These data also allow for the leveraging of change in both firearm legislation and county characteristics over time to better understand how firearm legislation emerges and impacts firearm violence.
description: The study constructed a comprehensive, longitudinal dataset of all counties nested within U.S. states in order to capture the presence of firearm legislation in a state from 1970-2012. The study focused on state-level firearm legislation due to the prevalence of "preemption laws", which prevent municipal and local-level firearm regulations from conflicting with state legislation. The data on state firearm legislation was built on state firearm legislation data compiled by Vernick and Hepburn, with legal data on all 50 states from 1979 to 1999 in the book "Evaluating Gun Policy: Effects on Crime and Violence" (Vernick and Hepburn 2003).
Data sources utilized for secondary analyses were obtained from these sources:

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data,
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (LCPGV), Uniform Crime Reports - Supplementary Homicide Reports,
National Center of Health Statistics (Compressed Mortality Files),
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF),
Audited Bureau of Circulations,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
CQ Press,
U.S. Census Bureau,
United States Department of Agriculture (Rural-Urban Continuum Codes),
and the Department of Health and Human Services, Area Health Resource File.
description: The variables present in the datasets includes information on firearm legislation implemented across U.S. states over time in combination with multiple measures of firearm-related violence and injury. The data also include information on state and county-level indicators of: Firearm prevalence and accessibility, firearm shops, enforcement of firearm laws, social norms about firearm ownership, demographics on racial and economic inequality, and access to healthcare like emergency care and mental health services.
The data also detailed variables related to firearm violence including firearm-related homicide, mass murder, suicide, robbery, and assault.
description: None
description: Response Rates: None
description: Presence of Common Scales: None
description: None
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Firearm Legislation and Firearm Violence Across Space and Time, United States, 1970-2012
description: Gun laws and legislation in all 50 States within the United States of America and their underlying counties and county-equivalents from 1970-2012. Smallest Geographic Unit: State/County
description: These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.