“Once they’re shot, our options are really limited.”In the 1980s, Wintemute began studying gun violence as a national public health crisis. We’d all like to know if it was rage, or revenge, or mental illness that motivated the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, to take aim at a crowd of innocent people. If the goal is to reduce gun violence, Swanson said, a keener understanding of behavior patterns and risk factors can help build a case for smarter gun laws. “We know that violence is the best predictor of future violence — a better predictor than mental illness,” Swanson said. In the absence of national leadership, the UC Davis program — formed over the last year or so — became the first state-funded violence research center in the country.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 04, 2017 12:00 UTC