gre5ryry Gun-related violence is most common in poor urban areas and in conjunction with gang violence, often involving juveniles or young adults.[1][2] Gun violence is not new in the United States, with the assassinations of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and of Presidents James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. High profile gun violence incidents, such as the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and, more recently, the Columbine High School massacre, the Beltway sniper attacks, the Virginia Tech massacre, and the 2011 Tucson shooting, have fueled debate over gun policies.[3]

There were 52,447 deliberate and 23,237 accidental non-fatal gunshot injuries in the United States during 2000.[4] The majority of gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides,[5] with 17,352 (55.6%) of the total 31,224 firearm-related deaths in 2007 due to suicide, while 12,632 (40.5%) were homicide deaths.[6]

Policies at the Federal, state, and local levels have attempted to address gun violence through a variety of methods, including restricting firearms purchasing by youths and other "at-risk" populations, setting waiting periods for firearm purchases, establishing gun "buy-back" programs, targeted law enforcement and policing strategies, stiff sentencing of gun law violators, education programs for parents and children, and community-outreach programs. Research has found some policies such as gun "buy-back" programs are ineffective, while Boston's Operation Ceasefire, a gang violence abatement and intervention strategy, has been effective.[7] Gun policies are also highly influenced by debates over the interpretation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, and in 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court took a position for the first time on this issue in District of Columbia v. Heller, holding that the second amendment secures