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Do restrictions on firearms reduce the number of gun deaths?

Christopher Morley, PhD (photo by Jim Howe)

Christopher Morley, PhD (photo by Jim Howe)

Counties in New York state with gun restrictions (including New York City and two counties on Long Island) have a lower death rate from gun violence, per population, than do counties in less populated areas of New York. That's according to research by Christopher Morley, PhD, who chairs the department of public health and preventive medicine at Upstate. Using data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he and a colleague make the case that New York provides a natural experiment for the effectiveness of policy in preventing deaths by firearms. "Despite being densely populated, counties in and around New York City with stronger restrictions have lower gun death rates," their research concludes. Morley also talks about the lasting impact of 1937 "redline" segregation in Syracuse.

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