The USA has either signed or ratified international human rights conventions that guarantee human rights which are undermined by gun violence and gun-related injuries and deaths. The USA, therefore, has a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights set out in these treaties and to exercise due diligence by taking measures to combat actual or foreseeable threats to these rights.
Human rights at stake include the right to life, the right to security of the person, the right to be free from discrimination, and economic, social and cultural rights. States have to act with due diligence to prevent violations of the right to life (and other rights).
Broadly, States’ responsibilities to prevent and protect against firearms violence require two interrelated approaches:

1. restricting access to firearms by those most at risk of abusing them; and
2. taking effective steps to put in place and implement violence reduction or protection measures where firearms abuse persists.

In the context of firearms, this obligation also includes reducing and preventing violent acts against individuals and communities, addressing discriminatory violence, violence against children, gender-based violence, and the use of firearms in suicides, and unintentional and accidental deaths.
The USA is obliged to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate and redress harm caused by private individuals and they should pay particular attention to those most at risk, be they individuals or marginalized communities.
A critical assessment and analysis of laws, policies, existing research, and incidents of gun violence, has revealed that the USA is simply not satisfying its obligations to protect and promote the right to life, the right to security of person, and other human rights.

The USA has both the highest absolute and highest per capita rates of gun ownership in the world, and yet, there remains a lack of gun safety laws and regulations across the USA.
The USA has failed to enact comprehensive laws related to background checks, training, licensing, and registration, reporting of lost and stolen firearms, regulation of assault rifles, the carrying of firearms in public, and the use of firearms for self-defense. The USA has not adequately addressed the impact of firearm violence on public health and has failed to invest in research on the impact of firearms in the USA to inform effective policy solutions.
The right to live free from violence, discrimination and fear has been superseded by a sense of entitlement to own a practically unlimited array of deadly weapons, without sufficient regulations on the acquisition, possession and use. In the face of clear evidence of persistent gun violence, high rates of gun ownership, and ease of access to firearms by individuals likely to misuse them, the USA is failing to meet its obligation to protect and promote human rights pursuant to international law.

The USA has both the highest absolute and highest per capita rates of gun ownership in the world, and yet, there remains a lack of gun safety laws and regulations across the USA. The USA has failed to enact comprehensive laws related to background checks, training, licensing, and registration, reporting of lost and stolen firearms, regulation of assault rifles, the carrying of firearms in public, and the use of firearms for self-defense. The USA has not adequately addressed the impact of firearm violence on public health and has failed to invest in research on the impact of firearms in the USA to inform effective policy solutions. The right to live free from violence, discrimination and fear has been superseded by a sense of entitlement to own a practically unlimited array of deadly weapons, without sufficient regulations on the acquisition, possession and use. In the face of clear evidence of persistent gun violence, high rates of gun ownership, and ease of access to firearms by individuals likely to misuse them, the USA is failing to meet its obligation to protect and promote human rights pursuant to international law.