Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Raj K. Singh

Abstract

There have been recurring incidents of gun violence, murder, and mass shootings that have raised public concern on the dangers of guns, and people have demanded government regulation on firearms usage. Studies have attributed these incidents to non-strict laws on guns; however, it was unclear whether firearm restrictions affected California's violent crime reduction. This quasi-experimental, quantitative study was focused on finding out the impact of gun violence restraining orders (GVROs) on violent crime reduction in California. Four research questions addressed the changes in the variables after the establishment of the GVRO. Secondary data from the California Department of Justice were processed and analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The social contract theory developed by Thomas Hobbes and the institutional theory expanded by W. R. Scott were utilized to synthesize how citizens’ contractual agreements with the sovereign authority reflected on the firearm restriction policies. Three analytical models were also used to examine the data: Independent sample t-test, analysis of variance, and a simple linear regression model. A significant impact on gun violence rates in the years following the GVRO was found, however, there was no significant impact on gun violence rates following the initial years of GVRO either by law enforcement or family orders. Policy on firearm recommendations offers solutions to gun violence and positively contributes to social change by creating a dialogue on the declining firearm policies to safeguard U.S. cities from the gun problem.

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