A scientific consensus has been reached on the effects of guns as outlined in an op-ed column in the LA Times today by David Hemenway, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and a director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.
In his column Professor Hemenway laments the journalistic "he said - she said" approach being used in stories on guns and crime as his understanding of the scientific literature gave no reason for using pro-gun rhetoric to balance reality.
He therefore determined to prove his understanding scientifically through polling.
My first step was to put together a list of relevant scientists. I decided that to qualify for the survey the researcher should have published on firearms in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and that he or she should be an active scientist — someone who had published an article in the last four years. I was interested in social science and policy issues, so I wanted the articles to be directly relevant. I was not interested in scientists doing research in forensics, history, medical treatment, psychiatric issues, engineering or non-firearms (for example, nail guns, electron guns).
Most of the scientists who were publishing relevant articles were from the fields of criminology, economics, public policy, political science and public health. Since there are typically many more authors on public health articles than on criminology articles, to have a balanced list I decided to include only the first author on the byline. Graduate students working for me identified more than 300 distinct first authors, and found more than 280 email addresses.
Each month he and his graduate students would send survey questions to these scientists.
The survey results were unsurprising to him.
...one survey asked whether having a gun in the home increased the risk of suicide. An overwhelming share of the 150 people who responded, 84%, said yes.
...
I also found widespread confidence that a gun in the home increases the risk that a woman living in the home will be a victim of homicide (72% agree, 11% disagree) and that a gun in the home makes it a more dangerous place to be (64%) rather than a safer place (5%). There is consensus that guns are not used in self-defense far more often than they are used in crime (73% vs. 8%) and that the change to more permissive gun carrying laws has not reduced crime rates (62% vs. 9%). Finally, there is consensus that strong gun laws reduce homicide (71% vs. 12%).
You will always be able to find someone creating atmospherics in denying the science but the community has reached a consensus and it isn't a pretty picture for the NRA.