What we’ve become: living and dying in a world of arms - Vol 35 Supplement 6 - Abstract/EP2.4

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Mabel

This presentation tracks how the global spread of civilian-owned firearms and US-style permissive gun laws threaten public health, equity, and democratic governance, while examining how migrations of guns can drive migrations of people. It builds on prior work showing how permissive laws and expanding gun sales produce profound, unequal harms in the US. Using social science, political science, and historical methods, the study compares evidence from the US, Middle East, Mexico, and Brazil. It concludes that arming civilians can worsen daily injuries and deaths, tribalize gun politics, weaken public-health infrastructure, and heighten nationalism.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Aims

Methods

Results

Conclusions

vi134 European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 35, Supplement 6, 2025 Abstract citation ID: ckaf180 .372 76 What we’ve become: living and dying in a world of arms Jonathan Metzl1 1Vanderbilt University, Nashville, United States EP2.4, e-Poster Terminal 2, September 4, 2025, 11:35-12:55 Aims: This research tracks how global proliferation of civilianowned firearms and US-style permissive gun laws threaten health, equity, and democratic governance in growing numbers of locales worldwide, and how global migrations of guns effect migrations of people. Methods: The presentation builds on a recent award-winning book by the author showing how permissive gun laws and dramatic expansions in gun sales lead to profound, and profoundly unequal negative health effects in the US. More guns and loose laws lead to racial and ethnic inequities in safety and security, and empower conservative governance. The current project uses social science, political science, and historical methods to study ways that the US/NRA model goes global—highlighting data and interviews in the US, Middle East, Mexico, and Brazil. Results: Permissive gun laws and civilian-owned firearms undermine efforts to promote equity and public health in growing numbers of locales globally. Potential security benefits to arming civilians are often counterbalanced by rising everyday gun-related injuries and deaths. Gun politics can also be tribalizing, divisive, even antidemocratic. As the author writes, these findings expose “what happens to the soul of a nation—and the meanings of safety and community—when we normalize violence as an acceptable tradeoff for freedom.” More guns and weaker gun laws also undermine public-health infrastructure and shape nationalism and anti-immigrant politics—findings supported by the author’s research on the Israeli right and recent research on US-Mexico gun migration patterns. Conclusions: This research speaks directly to the conference subtheme of Conflict and Peacebuilding. Peace becomes ever-more-elusive when governments encourage citizens to take law-and-order and lethal force it no their own hands. The paper concludes by laying out the vital need for global coordination among gun safety organizations.

FAQs

What does the research aim to examine?

It examines how the global proliferation of civilian-owned firearms and permissive gun laws affect health, equity, and democratic governance, and how gun migration can relate to people migration.

Which methods and regions does the presentation use?

It uses social science, political science, and historical methods, highlighting data and interviews from the US, Middle East, Mexico, and Brazil.

What are the main findings and risks discussed?

Permissive gun laws undermine equity and public health, and proposed security benefits are often outweighed by everyday gun-related injuries and deaths. The research also links gun politics to divisiveness and anti-democratic dynamics, and notes effects on public-health infrastructure and nationalism.

What does the presentation conclude about peacebuilding and coordination?

Peace becomes more elusive when governments encourage citizens to handle law-and-order and lethal force. It emphasizes the need for global coordination among gun safety organizations.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Mabel