Emily Owens

University of California - Irvine Website

Emily Owens is Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, and the Department of Economics at the University of California-Irvine. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland-College Park.

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
Agree 7
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 7
Comments

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
Agree 4
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 5
Comments

There are many other ways to acquire a gun, and this could lead to a spike in gun sales in anticipation of such a requirement. But in the medium term this would make one pathway to gun ownership more costly for some.

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 10
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 5
Comments

Maybe for these rare events. Researchers would need to know which schools/venues had armed security and have a credible identification strategy to answer this question.