Many individuals and communities wake up with the threat of gun violence looming over them, with frequent reminders in the media of the ways in which gun violence affects our children at school, our partners at work, our friends at concerts and other recreational events, and our loved ones who are suicidal, to name but a few. Understanding the multitude of factors that contribute to gun violence is critical to prevention efforts, and an interdisciplinary approach is necessary to ensuring that the multifactorial nature of gun violence is accounted for on both micro- and macrolevels. The psychological characteristics of individuals who commit gun violence and the host of sociological variables associated with gun violence remain important areas in which current knowledge needs to be expanded. Still further, effective government policies that reduce gun violence and their transportability need to be studied more fully to reduce the loss of life due to gun violence.
Through the high-quality contributions collated through this collection, it is hoped that those working towards reducing gun violence – from a wide variety of social science disciplines – can identify risk factors, preventive methods and de-escalation tactics. Ultimately, the lives of people affected by gun violence, and those living with the constant risk, count on research for enhancing their future security.
This Article Collection will solicit manuscripts related to the following subjects. However, we welcome all submissions related to the umbrella topic of gun violence.
- The impact of external events preceding gun violence from a psychological, sociological or criminological perspective
- Psychological or psychiatric characteristics of gun violence perpetrators
- Gun violence towards the self
- Identifying risk, de-escalation, and prevention factors prior to an act of gun violence
- Programs that reduce the threat of gun violence in schools and universities
Instructions for Authors
The following Article Types will be considered: basic and clinical research, as well as epidemiological research, meta-analyses, systematic and scoping reviews, narrative reviews, theoretical pieces, and commentaries.
When submitting your article, please select the Special Issue, 'Preventing gun violence: An interdisciplinary perspective' from the drop-down menu on the submission system.
