David Abrams

University of Pennsylvania Website

David Abrams is Professor of Law, Business Economics, and Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Voting History

Mass violence

Red flag laws, allowing police or family members to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from a person who presents a danger to themselves or others, would reduce the frequency or severity of mass violence.

Vote Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 3
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 7
Comments

My intuition is that the impact of these types of policies would be weak, given that they often require individuals close to a suspect to involve law enforcement or the courts.

Universal background checks, which would require almost all firearm sales in the US to go through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, would reduce the frequency or severity of mass violence.

Vote Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 4
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 5
Comments

Again, I would expect the impact to be relatively weak, since many perpetrators have no prior record.

Increasing the presence of armed security at schools and other public venues would reduce the frequency or severity of mass violence.

Vote Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 4
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 5
Comments

There is good evidence about police deterring crimes, but also of displacement effects. There is less evidence about the impact of armed security. I expect this would also have some, but relatively weak effects.