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.