President Obama named some recent victims of gun violence in his State of the union speech to Congress and the nation in February. They included a 15-year-old girl in Chicago, a member of Congress in Arizona, elementary school children in Connecticut and people at a movie theater in Colorado. President Obama called on Congress to vote on gun control measures.
"Gabby Giffords deserves a vote.
The families of Newtown deserve a vote.
The families of Aurora deserve a vote.
The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence – they deserve a simple vote."
But British writer Edward Davies says there is nothing simple about the issue of gun control. Mr. Davies writes about America for BMJ, the British Medical Journal. He does not favor a particular position on the issue.
"It's interesting. It's complicated, and there's no right answer, is what's slowly emerging as far as I can see."
Mr. Davies sees American history, including the Second Amendment to the Constitution, as the driving force in the dispute
Mr. Davies sees American history, including the Second Amendment to the Constitution, as the driving force in the dispute.
The Second Amendment reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Gun rights supporters -- and the Supreme Court -- say the amendment guarantees individuals the right to own a gun. Gun control activists say the amendment was meant to guarantee states the right to organize militias for defense.
But Mr. Davies does not see gun control as a political question. He sees it as a public health issue, like smoking or malnutrition. Mr. Davies says policy makers usually base public health decisions on scientific research. But I n the case of gun control, policy makers do not have very much research to consider.
"The research into gun control has not been completely free and open in recent years."
Mr. Davies says the last research on gun-related issues that had a "real impact" appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in the 1990s. He says the research suggested that the risk of violent deaths was almost three times greater for people in homes with a gun. And the risk of suicide was almost five times greater, compared to homes without a gun.
Since that study, Mr. Davies says money for research on gun-related issues in the United States has decreased. He says pressure by the National Rifle Association helped stop government-funded gun research in the late 1990s.
The National Rifle Association represents at least 3.5 million gun owners and manufacturers. The NRA strongly supports gun ownership rights. It said the proposed government-supported research was an attempt to win public support for gun control.
Mr. Davies says there were also efforts to pass legislation to prevent doctors from asking their patients about guns in their homes.
"If there was freedom to do more research in this area, whatever decision might be made would be more informed. And any policy would be evidence based. And at the moment there is not the complete open freedom for that to happen."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 31,000 people were killed by guns in the United States in 2010. That is the most recent year for which officials have made a final count. Writing in the BMJ, Mr. Davies says, "If a disease killed 31,000 people a year there would be a national outcry over such restrictions on research."
One shooting that received national attention last year was that of Trayvon Martin. He was a 17-year-old high school student in Florida. Last February, he was visiting his father in the town of Sanford. A neighborhood watch volunteer saw Mr. Martin walking in the neighborhood and called the police to say he looked suspicious. The police told George Zimmerman to stay in his car and not follow him. But Mr. Zimmerman followed Trayvon Martin, and ended up shooting him. Mr. Martin was unarmed. Mr. Zimmerman said the young man attacked him and that he fired in self-defense.