Illegal Firearm Possession: A Reflection on Policies and Practices that May Miss the Mark and Exacerbate Racial Disparity in the Justice System

This essay from Duke Center for Firearms Law uses comparative trend analysis to contrast rising possession arrests against falling overall arrest rates. Additionally, the article includes both the data and the causal logic to challenge assumptions that simple firearm possession alone demonstrates dangerousness or predicts future violence. It encourages courts to distinguish rather than conflate possession with firearm violence in its legal analysis.