The goal of the system is to let university researchers, government agencies, and lawmakers know what they don't know now, and to use that information to design laws aimed at reducing firearm deaths. No other developed country comes close to our death rates, and that should not be. As an example, no one knows how effective the recent ban on certain types of assault rifles has been because no record exists of how many individuals were shot by such weapons before or after the ban. And I don't mean that in a lighthearted way. You feel secure about some 'fact,' then you look at the actual data and discover things aren't really that way.
Barber cites examples from motor vehicles.
Inspections and drivers' education do not lower fatalities as much as expected. Motorcycle helmets really matter in accidents, and raising speed limits produces a predictable increase in highway deaths. Air bags offer less protection than first believed, and they can even kill people. The first step in obtaining that kind of information about firearms involves getting each state to report the same information in the same way. That means getting coroners', medical examiners', police, crime lab, and vital statistics reports all in the same form.