Introduction
Blockchain technology can help reduce firearm related morbidity and
mortality by improving background checks, gun registration, and
decreasing economic pressures that increase interpersonal violence and
suicides. In the US, firearm related deaths have reached epidemic
levels. Suicides were the 10th leading cause of death and homicides the
17th leading cause of death in 2014, with the majority of these due to
firearm injury
[1].
The level of morbidity and mortality due to firearm injuries in the US
is not showing a significant decline in spite of advances in medical
care and technology. Death from firearms rightly has been recognized as
a public health crisis
[2].
A multi-pronged approach to reducing firearm related morbidity and
mortality is necessary, given the limits on gun control legislation
imposed by the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution, which grants
individuals the right to bear arms
[3].
Existing legislation, designed to work within the bounds of the 2nd
Amendment, has done little to reduce the staggering toll of gun violence
[4].
More holistic approaches have shown some promise but implementation has
been difficult. For example, the Violence Reduction Strategy (VRS)
program implemented in Chicago in 2009 has had good success where it was
able to be applied, reducing gun victimization by over 30%. The success
of the VRS program upon Chicago gun deaths was minimal, however, because
it was only able to reach about 15% of the entire target population
[5].
The approach suggested here is to apply blockchain technology
holistically in a fashion specifically designed to reduce firearm
related injuries. A primary component of this approach is to
emphemeralize older, labor intensive approaches to reducing firearm
deaths by applying a distributed ledger technology to background checks
and gun tracking. Applying blockchain technology to gun control
legislation will not only improve enforcement, it likely will also allow
better legislation to be passed because it would address privacy issues
which are important to gun rights advocates.
In addition, adopting blockchain protocols into the financial sector is
also recommended because of the public health effects of a volatile
economy. Although there is not a clear correlation globally, in the US,
suicide is affected by economic conditions
[6].
As the majority of firearm associated deaths are due to suicide,
strategies to reduce precipitators of suicide such as unemployment and a
poor business climate must be implemented. As such, blockchain
applications in central banking should rightly be viewed as a potential
way to decrease firearm violence by minimizing wide swings in economic
conditions.