The 13 Douzaine Principles for Reducing Gun Violence in America

The Douzaine Principles for Reducing Gun Violence in America


INTRODUCTION TO THE 13 DOUZAINE PRINCIPLES

The 13 Douzaine Principles for Reducing Gun Violence in America represents the first-ever comprehensive framework for creating new and evaluating existing US gun control efforts with singular hyperfocus on saving lives, both prior to and, tragically when needed after gun violence to address the trauma. Gun violence impacts many Americans including our children whether in schools, parks, or homes; those neighbors who are suicidal; women suffering through domestic violence; law enforcement who encounter guns daily; those most likely to be the victims of on the street and “in the moment” homicides; and mass gatherings of people at events like concerts and sporting events. With this wide impact and the catalyzing effect of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, there is an ongoing sense of collective, national urgency on gun control combined at the same time with an ongoing real frustration with the apparent failure in whole or part of existing efforts to reduce the shootings and stop the killing. This is why the Douzaine Principles for Reducing Gun Violence in America are needed. For more information about the 13 Douzaine Principles, contact Jac Charlier at jac.charlier@gmail.com.

The Douzaine Principles ensure that solutions are framed to maximize their collective impact in the widest possible area. What will emerge then as solutions to a complicated, intertwined and complex challenge, will be, as should be expected for a problem of this magnitude, solutions that when taken as a whole will actually do what we want them to do – save lives - before and after shootings - and then reduce future shootings. Likewise, the Douzaine Principles must be taken preferably together or in as much of their entirety as possible for them to work. If not, the solutions that result will look like the piecemeal, disconnected, singular, and incomplete existing gun control efforts we’ve already seen get done, linger, or go nowhere.

When using the Douzaine Principles, the goal is to have proposed solutions line up with as many of the Principles as possible while minimizing the number of Principles the proposed solutions are not in alignment with or are silent on. The Douzaine Principles demand a comprehensive approach to gun control. As such, it becomes obvious when using the Douzaine Principles to evaluate existing and proposed solutions how lacking some of them really are. Time, energy, and resources are otherwise spent on solutions that the Douzaine Principles would have told us are at worst actually not, or at best not very good solutions.

A note before proceeding. In the United States, any gun conversation must keep in mind the legal backdrop of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. It has become part of the American mindset, for some more than others, that citizens have the right to bear arms is foundational to our nation's existence. In historical fact, the specific legal argument about an individual’s right to bear arms (versus a well-regulated militia) has come in only recently in our nation’s history as of the early 1970s. Prior to this, the debate was about who held the legal authority to handle guns on their own – the states or the federal government? Absent the turn towards individual gun rights (from state’s rights), we are very likely not to be where we are right now. Our Constitution is a living document, not fixed by any means, and has been subject to changes 27 times since its incorporation. We can make it 28 times to save the lives of our citizens.

The significance of this is that the Douzaine Principles must be done in concert with a court strategy tackling head on the challenge of changing the legal interpretation of the 2nd Amendment to focus on saving lives, not saving guns.

HOW TO USE THE DOUZAINE PRINCIPLES

A comprehensive gun control solution will adhere to all the Douzaine Principles and will produce a package of solutions that would be implemented together. To use the Douzaine Principles:

1) Read the Principles in their entirety.

2) Compare a proposed solution/package of solutions against the Principles using the following guidance:

• The first Douzine Principle (#1) is a Cardinal Principle and proposed solutions cannot violate this Principle. Solutions that do are not to be considered further. A solution can, however, be silent on this Principle.
• The next six Douzaine Principles (#2-#7) are Foundational Principles and proposed solutions must comport with as many Principles as possible to save the most lives. Solutions that are in line with all six Foundational Principles are to be given a higher priority for consideration and action than solutions that are in line with only one or two Foundational Principles.
• The final six Douzaine Principles (#8-#13) range in the area they cover. It is understood that various groups, communities, regions, etc...will pay attention to different possible solutions or areas on which to work. Hence, these Principles are applied depending on the solution. Remember, however, the Douzaine Principles must be taken together, in as much of their entirety as possible for them to work. This will maximize the impact of the proposed solution.

3) Evaluate the strength of a proposed solution/package of solutions based on the just-completed alignment, or lack thereof, with the Douzaine Principles

4) Proceed with the proposed solution/package of solutions, or modify or cancel the proposed solution/package of solutions, depending on what came out of #3 above.

THE DOUZAINE PRINCIPLES

1. Solutions must not add to, and will preferably reduce, the overall number of guns in the United States (Cardinal Principle)

1. America is awash in guns. 350,000,000 people and 350,000,000 guns = 1/gun per baby, child, teen, woman, man, and senior in the United States.
2. Of the one thing that is known from research with more than enough certainty and which comports with simple logic is that the more guns that are readily accessible in more homes, schools, businesses, and cars or wherever, means more gun victims, especially suicides, domestic violence, law enforcement, “in the moment” homicides, as well as kids who play with guns found in the home.
3. Fewer guns mean less gun violence so not increasing the number of guns is paramount and reducing the number of guns is even better to save police, women, children and more.

2. Solutions must be national in scope (Foundational Principle)

1. Solutions must be national in scope to cross jurisdictional boundaries allowing for national uniformity for gun control. We are the only nation with the right to bear arms, therefore solutions must address gun control from a national perspective, not a state-by-state or town-by-town perspective. Further, city, county, parish, and state borders don’t mean anything to guns, bullets, to those who would do others harm or harm themselves, as well as to criminals. Gun crime victims and their loved ones don’t care where a gun came from; they care that they have now been injured and suffered from the horrific experience of being shot. Finally, those people suffering from severe depression must not have access to a gun no matter where they are. State by state initiatives is insufficient to address the scope of the problem. Federal oversight and coordinated response are absolutely warranted during this time of crisis to ensure uniformity of application, enforcement, response and treatment across the entire nation.
2. Prior to a national scoped solution, regionally scoped efforts of states or counties/parishes, or even communities can be initiated under this principle

3. Solutions must be national in scale (Foundational Principle)

1. Solutions must be national in scale to have sufficient impact to reduce gun violence victims - killed, shot, and those impacted by those killed and shot.
2. Prior to a nationally scaled solution, regionally scaled efforts of states or counties/parishes, or even communities can be initiated under this principle.

4. Solutions must be grounded in a systems approach that both predicts and responds, as well as acts repeatedly over time as a system (Foundational Principle)

1. Other than possibly the person using a gun, nobody owns the sole responsibility for nor has sole knowledge of the necessary solutions for the control over single-handedly stemming gun violence. Gun violence, crime, suicide, and the underlying psychosocial, economic, and racial challenges result from complex, chronic social and individual conditions that have developed over a long period of time. While the efficacy of the response required varies from person to person, in large part these conditions do not generally respond to short term, acute solutions, and when they appear to respond, the change is often not sustained and the condition returns (when in reality it never was actually addressed). Instead, solutions for these types of challenges are best solved by systems collaborative efforts at the intersection of a wide number of systems. For example, the criminal justice, social service, community, gun and ammunition makers, gun dealers, gun sellers, family, schools, child welfare, medical including neuroscience, psychiatry, faith, and health systems. In other words, we have to get at this together and in accordance with systems theory, we have to maximize the system organizations in the correct proportion to get the desired outcomes and not maximize every organization equally.
2. A systems approach includes data sharing across systems to facilitate data-driven decision making.

5. Solutions must be grounded in evidence-based research (Foundational Principle)

1. The use of research from the systems approach should guide solutions. Where research exists, ideally it will be evidence-based practice (EBP) and then practice-based evidence (PBE). Caution is warranted to simple, “elegant” solutions that avoid the complexity of the situation, or new ideas that have no basis in any previously known research or even PBE. Yes, new ideas come up but they are most frequently incremental in nature even when they seem like a breakthrough.
2. Where EBP and research do not yet exist, rational inferences from existing research of what might work will be needed.
3. Expansion of research is needed to understand how best to improve the work of saving lives. Research must focus on those who use guns as well as those who are victims of guns and gun violence, directly and indirectly. Attention as to the application of interventions by gender, race, age, and other special populations is critical.

6. Solutions must be understood as they apply to gender (For example, by large measure most shooters are male and most gun owners are male, yet females are often victims and their voices overlooked), age (including seniors), race (most gun owners are white male, solutions must be for people of color too), geography, and the specific context where they will be implemented (Foundational Principle)

7. Solutions must explore new and leverage existing technology (Foundational Principle)

PUBLIC HEALTH

8. Solutions must be grounded in early and repeated individualized public health and social service system interventions that respond over time

1. The antecedents to gun violence are often traceable back to problems of health and wellbeing in individuals. The long history of ongoing national disinvestment in social services, behavioral health, and public health continue to come home to roost in the United States. Each person is different and hence will respond to different interventions, but the interventions must be there in the first place. Absent these interventions, while some will do well without interventions, others will degrade. This might not only increase the risk of future violence, including gun violence but also adds to the real costs of delayed intervention after a person’s wellbeing has degraded even more.
2. Interventions must be individualized for the specific needs and supervision (oversight) in order to have the necessary effect.
3. The interventions are prioritized for those deemed to have the highest risk of violence, are suicidal, as well as those that themselves are at risk of gun violence
4. The individual interventions must be done over time, repeatedly, and with a frequency sufficient to have a meaningful impact.

9. Solutions must address the trauma of victims, families, and children

PUBLIC SAFETY

10. Solutions must be grounded in public safety and regulatory interventions that respond over time

1. Guns are lethal and make activities such as suicide attempts, domestic violence, and homicide attempts more lethal. Public safety is paramount and this means focused, coordinated, and ongoing efforts by the criminal justice system i.e. law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, probation, prisons, and parole are necessary. Each must do their part in alignment with the rest of the justice system.
2. This same principle also applies to the regulatory sphere for gun and ammunition manufacturing, distribution, sale, resale, and disposal.
3. Criminal justice and regulatory efforts must also be coordinated.
4. The efforts must be done over time, repeatedly, and with a frequency sufficient to have a meaningful impact.

11. Solutions must account for the methods of gun acquisitions

1. Crime, crimes of violence, and suicide exist in every country. The difference in the United States is the widespread prevalence of guns adds to the lethality of these events. As such, understanding and then disrupting the various methods by which guns are acquired is required.

12. Solutions must prioritize the types of guns, ammunition, and magazines, that are used in the most shootings and cause the greatest harm

POPULATION SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS

13. Solutions must be tailored for specific populations based on data and research:

1. Suicide
2. Mental illness
3. SUD (drug involved)
4. Domestic violence
5. Children (0-12)
6. Youth (12-18)
7. Young adults (19-25)
8. Seniors
9. Dementia and Alzheimer's (neurological diseases)
10. Shootings against law enforcement
11. “On the street” e.g. gang violence
12. “In the moment” shootings
13. Site shootings i.e. schools, concerts, sporting events