Robert Apel

Rutgers University Website

Robert Apel is Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University. He holds a Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland.

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 5
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 7
Comments

So little research on this because states have only begun enacting the law in sufficient numbers in the last few years. Good reason to believe it can reduce certain forms of gun deaths, namely suicides and domestic homicides—neither of which constitutes mass violence. It is also one thing to enact a red flag law and another to apply it, so any impact is likely to be small if petitions are infrequent or the pool of eligible petitioners is shallow.

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
Strongly Agree 8
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 5
Comments

Some recent high-profile incidents involve people who would not have been flagged in criminal background checks, but they do appear have a modest impact on gun violence, although it is hard to say whether they reduce mass violence. That said, when combined with other control measures (e.g., licensing and permitting, waiting periods) and expanded to include private purchases, universal background checks would unquestionably reduce gun violence, including mass violence.

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

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

“Good guy with a gun” responses to mass violence via armed security are happening in the absence of evidence. When used in schools, there are even compelling reasons to believe there are adverse tradeoffs and opportunity costs, especially with SROs. The truth is one can find an abundance of “best practices” (read, other places do this so you should too) but not evidence-based practices.