Gun violenceGun violence defined literally means the use of a firearm to threaten or inflict violence or harm. Gun violence may be broadly defined as a category of violence and crime committed with the use of a firearm; it may or may not include actions ruled as self-defense, actions for law enforcement, or...
in the United States is an intensely debated political issue. Violence is most common in urban areas and in conjunction with youth activity and gang violence. Gun violence is not new in the United States, with the
assassinationAn Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure.Assassinations may be prompted by ideological, political, or military reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain, revenge, personal public recognition, or mental illness....
s of President
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
in 1865, and of Presidents
James GarfieldJames Abram Garfield was the 20th President of the United States. His death, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure, at 199 days, the second shortest in United States history.Before his election as president, Garfield served as a major general in the...
,
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley Jr. was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office....
, and
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. High profile gun violence incidents, such as the assassinations of
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician. He was a younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964, he was the U.S...
,
Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States and he is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today. King is recognized as a martyr...
, and, more recently, the
Columbine High School massacreThe Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton...
, the
Beltway sniper attacksThe Beltway sniper attacks took place during three weeks in October 2002 in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Ten people were killed and three others critically injured in various locations throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia...
, and the
Virginia Tech massacreThe Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place April 16, 2007 on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and...
, have also fueled debate over
gun policiesGun politics is a set of legal issues surrounding the ownership, use, and regulation of firearms as well as safety issues related to firearms both through their direct use and through legal and criminal use.-International:-National sovereignty:...
.
The
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, Georgia. It works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions, and it promotes health through...
(CDC) estimated 52,447 deliberate and 23,237 accidental non-fatal gunshot injuries in the United States during 2000. The majority of gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides, with firearms used in 16,907
suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
s in the United States during 2004. Legal policies at the
FederalThe federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and...
, state, and local levels have attempted to address gun violence through a variety of methods, including restricting firearms purchasing by youths and other "at-risk" populations, setting waiting periods for firearm purchases, establishing gun "buy-back" programs, targeted law enforcement and policing strategies, stiff sentencing of gun law violators, education programs for parents and children, and community-outreach programs. Research has shown mixed results, finding some policies such as gun "buy-back" programs are ineffective, while
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
's
Operation CeasefireOperation Ceasefire is a youth gun violence intervention strategy, first implemented in 1996 in Boston.-Boston:...
(a gang violence abatement strategy) has been effective as an intervention strategy. Gun policy in the United States is also highly influenced by debates over the interpretation of the
Second Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects a right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights...
, which states "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Gun rights advocates generally support unrestricted gun ownership, whereas gun control advocates advocate various restrictions on gun ownership.
Suicides involving firearms
Some research shows an association between household firearm ownership and gun
suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
rates, while other research indicates no such association between firearm ownership and gun suicide rates. During the 1980s and early 1990s, there was a strong upward trend in adolescent suicides with a gun, as well as a sharp overall increase in a suicides among those age 75 and over. In the United States, firearms remain the most common method of suicide, accounting for 53.7% of all suicides committed during 2003.
Research also indicates no association
vis-à-vis safe-storage laws of guns that
are owned, and gun suicide rates, and studies that attempt to link gun ownership to likely victimology often fail to account for the presence of guns owned by other people. Researchers have shown that
safe-storage laws do not appear to affect gun suicide rates or juvenile accidental gun death.
Homicides
While people during the 19th century were concerned about violent crime, it often took the form of
riotA riot is a form of civil disorder characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against people or property. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are typically chaotic and exhibit herd behavior.Riots often occur in reaction to a...
s and other forms of
disorderCivil disorder, also known as civil unrest, is a broad term that is typically used by law enforcement to describe one or more forms of disturbance caused by a group of people. Civil disturbance is typically a symptom of, and a form of protest against, major socio-political problems; the severity of...
in cities. Gun violence, however, sometimes played a role in these riots (see Haymarket riot). Homicide rates in cities such as Philadelphia were significantly lower than in modern times.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, homicide rates surged in cities across the United States (see graphs at right). Handgun homicides accounted for nearly all of the overall increase in the homicide rate, from 1985 to 1993, while homicide rates involving other weapons declined during that time frame. The rising trend in homicide rates during the 1980s and early 1990s was most pronounced among youths and
HispanicHispanic is a term that historically denoted a relationship to the ancient Hispania . During the modern era, it took on a more limited meaning, relating to the contemporary nation of Spain....
and
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
males in the United States, with the injury and death rates tripling for black males aged 13 through 17 and doubling for black males aged 18 through 24. The rise in
crack cocaineCrack cocaine, crack or rock is a solid, smokable form of cocaine. It is a freebase form of cocaine that can be made using baking soda or sodium hydroxide, in a process to convert cocaine hydrochloride into methylbenzoylecgonine .-Appearance and characteristics:Crack cocaine as sold on the...
use in cities across the United States is often cited as a factor for increased gun violence among youths during this time period.
Crime rates in the U.S. are similar to those of other
developed countriesThe term developed country is used to describe countries that have a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue and there is fierce debate about this. Economic criteria have tended to dominate...
. Nonetheless, many
developing countriesDeveloping country is a term generally used to describe a nation with a low level of material well being. There is no single internationally-recognized definition of developed country, and the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries, with some developing...
have significantly higher rates of homicide and in some cases, firearm usage in homicides, including
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
,
ThailandThe Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia.It is bordered to the north by Laos and Burma, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Burma...
,
GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
,
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
,
Trinidad and TobagoThe Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American country of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the...
,
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
,
EstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russian Federation...
, and Russia.
Prevalence of homicide and violent crime is greatest in urban areas of the United States. In
metropolitan areasIn the United States, the Office of Management and Budget has produced a formal definition of metropolitan areas. These are referred to as "Metropolitan Statistical Areas" and "Combined Statistical Areas" . An earlier version of the MSA was the "Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area" . MSAs are...
, the homicide rate in 2005 was 6.1 per 100,000 compared with 3.5 in non-metropolitan
countiesA county is a land area of local government within a country. A county may have cities and towns within its area. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count .Counts are called earls in post-Celtic Britain, Ireland and France—the term is from Old...
. In U.S. cities with populations greater than 250,000, the mean homicide rate was 12.1 per 100,000. Rates of gun-related homicides are greatest in southern and western states.
Homicide rates among 18- to 24-year-olds have declined since 1993, but remain higher than they were prior to the 1980s. In 2005, the 17 through 24 age group remains significantly overrepresented in violent
crime statisticsCrime statistics attempt to provide statistical measures of the crime in societies. Given that crime is illegal by nature, measurements of it are likely to be inaccurate....
, particularly homicides involving firearms. In 2005, 17- through 19-year olds were 4.3% of the overall
populationAs of October 20th 2009, the United States has a total resident population of 308 million. It is a very urbanized nation, with 81% of the population residing in cities and suburbs as of mid-2005 . The mean population center of the United States has consistently shifted westward and southward, with...
of the United States. This same age group accounted for 11.2% of those killed by firearm homicides. This age group also accounted for 10.6% of all homicide offenses. The 20- through 24-year-old age group accounted for 7.1% of the population, while accounting for 22.5% of those killed by firearm homicides. The 20 through 24 age group also accounted for 17.7% of all homicide offenses. Those under age 17 are not overrepresented in homicide statistics. In 2005, 13- through 16-year-olds accounted for 6% of the overall population of the United States, but only accounted for 3.6% of firearm homicide victims, and 2.7% of overall homicide offenses.
People with a
criminal recordA criminal record is a record of a person's criminal history, generally used by potential employers, lenders etc. to assess his or her trustworthiness. The information included in a criminal record varies between countries and even between jurisdictions within a country...
are also more likely to die as homicide victims. Between 1990 and 1994, 75% of all homicide victims age 21 and younger in the city of
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
had a prior criminal record. In Philadelphia, the percentage of those killed in gun homicides that had prior criminal records increased from 73% in 1985 to 93% in 1996. In
Richmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, the risk of
gunshotA gunshot is the discharge of a firearm, and the sound effect thereof; the term can also refer to a wound caused by such a discharge.-Gunshot sound:...
injury is 22 times higher for those males involved with crime.
In 2005, 75% of the 10,100
homicideHomicide refers to the act of a human killing a human being. A common form of homicide, for example, would be murder. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
s committed using firearms in the United States were committed using
handgunA handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand, with the other hand optionally supporting the shooting hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from their larger counterparts: long guns such as rifles and shotguns , mounted weapons such...
s, compared to 4% with
rifleA rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s, 5% with
shotgunA shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
s, and the rest with a type of firearm not specified. Due to the lethal potential that a gun brings to a situation, the likelihood that a death will result is significantly increased when either the victim or the attacker has a gun. The mortality rate for gunshot wounds to the
heartThe heart is a muscular organ found in all vertebrates that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
is 84%, compared to 30% for people who sustain stab wounds to the heart.
U.S. President assassinations and attempts
The most notable assassination victim in early U.S. history was President
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
in 1865. President Lincoln lived only a few hours after being hit in the head by a single .44-caliber handgun round fired by
John Wilkes BoothJohn Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a popular actor, well known in both the...
. Presidents
James GarfieldJames Abram Garfield was the 20th President of the United States. His death, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure, at 199 days, the second shortest in United States history.Before his election as president, Garfield served as a major general in the...
and
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley Jr. was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office....
were both assassinated with handguns; President Garfield was killed by an assailant using a .44-caliber handgun; President McKinley was killed by two rounds fired from a .32-caliber
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. As the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name...
. President
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
was assassinated by
Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald was, according to three United States government investigations, the assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who was fatally shot on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas....
who used a
bolt-actionThe term bolt action refers to a type of firearm action in which the weapon's bolt is operated manually by the opening and closing of the breech with a small handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon...
CarcanoCarcano is the frequently used name for a series of Italian bolt-action military rifles and carbines. Introduced in 1891, this rifle was chambered for the rimless 6.5x52mm Mannlicher-Carcano Cartuccia Modello 1895 cartridge. It was developed by the chief technician Salvatore Carcano at the Turin...
M1891/38 rifle in 6.5 x 52 mm. Presidents
Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . He was military governor of Florida , commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans , and eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy...
and
Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
were uninjured during assassination attempts, as was President
Gerald FordGerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
in two separate attempts only a few weeks apart. President
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
survived an assassination attempt after being shot by
John Hinckley, Jr.John Warnock Hinckley, Jr., attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, as the culmination of an effort to impress actress Jodie Foster. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has remained under institutional psychiatric care since...
with a
Röhm RG-14 .22-caliber revolver, and is the only sitting President to survive a gunshot wound. Former President
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
was shot and wounded during the 1912 presidential campaign. On February 15, 1933, Guiseppe Zangara attempted to assassinate Franklin Delano Roosevelt while the then President-elect was giving a speech in Miami, Florida.
Other violent crime
In the United States, a quarter of commercial
robberiesRobbery is the crime of seizing property through violence or intimidation. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear. Precise definitions of the offence may vary between...
are committed with guns. Robberies committed with guns are three times as likely to result in fatalities compared with robberies where other weapons were used, with similar patterns in cases of family violence. Criminologist
Philip J. CookPhilip J. Cook is a professor of public policy, sociology, and economics at Duke University in the United States. His research has focused on firearms and crime, as well as alcohol abuse and related problems....
hypothesizes that if guns were less available, criminals may likely commit the crime anyway but with less-lethal weapons. He finds that the level of gun ownership in the 50 largest U.S. cities correlates with the rate of robberies committed with guns, but not overall robbery rates. A significant number of homicides result as a by-product of another violent crime which escalates, with the offender going into the crime without a clear or sustained intent to kill or be killed. Overall robbery and
assaultAssault is a crime of violence against another person. In some jurisdictions, including Australia and New Zealand, assault refers to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, while in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, assault may refer only to the threat...
rates in the United States are also comparable to other developed countries, such as Australia and
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, notwithstanding the much lower levels of gun ownership in those countries.
- See also Assault with a deadly weapon
Gun ownership
The
General Social SurveyThe General Social Survey is a survey used to collect data on demographic characteristics and attitudes of residents of the United States. The survey is conducted face-to-face with an in-person interview by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, of a randomly-selected...
(GSS) is a primary source for data on firearm ownership, with surveys periodically done by other organizations such as
Harris InteractiveHarris Interactive is an American market research company that specializes in public opinion research using both telephone and online surveys on online panels. The company is the product of a 1996 merger between the Gordon S...
. In 2004, 36.5% of Americans reported having a gun in their home and in 1997, 40% of Americans reported having a gun in their homes. At this time there were approximately 44 million gun owners in the United States. This means that 25 percent of all adults, and 40 percent of American households, owned at least one firearm. These owners possessed 192 million firearms, of which 65 million were handguns The number of American homes reporting have a gun in their homes is down from 46% as reported in 1989. Philip J. Cook suggests that increased numbers of female-headed households may be a factor in declining household ownership figures. A National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms (NSPOF), conducted in 1994, indicates that Americans own 192 million guns, with 36% of these consisting of rifles, 34% handguns, 26% shotguns, and 4% of other types of long guns. Most firearm owners own multiple firearms, with the NSPOF survey indicating 25% of adults own firearms. In the United States, 11% of households report actively being involved in
huntingHunting is the practice of pursuing living animals for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, with the remaining firearm owners having guns for self-protection and other reasons. Throughout the 1970s and much of the 1980s, the rate of gun ownership in the home ranged from 45-50%. Gun ownership also varies across geographic regions, ranging from 25% rates of ownership in the
Northeastern United StatesThe Northeastern United States is a region of the United States. According to the definition used by the United States Census Bureau, the Northeast region consists of nine states: the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; and the...
to 60% rates of ownership in the
East South Central StatesThe East South Central States constitute one of the nine Census Bureau Divisions of the United States.Four states make up the division: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee...
. The GSS survey and other proxy measures of gun ownership do not provide adequate macro-level detail to allow conclusions on the relationship between overall firearm ownership and gun violence. Criminologist
Gary KleckGary Kleck is a criminologist at Florida State University and is the nation's leading expert on the links between guns, violence and gun control laws...
compared various survey and proxy measures and found no correlation between overall firearm ownership and gun violence.
Self-protection
Between 1987 and 1990, David McDowall found that guns were used in defense during a crime incident 64,615 times annually. This equates to two times out of 1,000 incidents (0.2%) that occurred in this time frame. For violent crimes (
assaultAssault is a crime of violence against another person. In some jurisdictions, including Australia and New Zealand, assault refers to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, while in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, assault may refer only to the threat...
,
robberyRobbery is the crime of seizing property through violence or intimidation. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear. Precise definitions of the offence may vary between...
, and
rapeRape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or without sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
), guns were used 0.83% of the time in self-defense. Of the times that guns were used in self-defense, 71% of the crimes were committed by strangers, with the rest of the incidents evenly divided between offenders that were acquaintances or persons well-known to the victim. Of all incidents where a gun was used for self-defense, victims shot at the offender 28% of the time. In 20% of the self-defense incidents, the guns were used by
police officerA police officer is a warranted employee of a police force. Police officers are generally responsible for apprehending criminals, maintaining public order, and preventing and detecting crimes...
s. During this same time period, 1987 and 1990, there were 46,319 gun homicides, and the
National Crime Victimization SurveyThe National Crime Victimization Survey , administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is a national survey of approximately 77,200 households in the United States, on the frequency of crime victimization, as well as characteristics and consequences of victimization...
estimates that 2,628,532 nonfatal crimes involving guns occurred.
The findings of the McDowall's study for the
American Journal of Public HealthThe American Journal of Public Health is a peer reviewed monthly journal of the American Public Health Association . The Journal also regularly publishes authoritative editorials and commentaries and serves as a forum for the analysis of health policy.First published in 1911, the stated mission...
contrast with the findings of a 1993 study by
Gary KleckGary Kleck is a criminologist at Florida State University and is the nation's leading expert on the links between guns, violence and gun control laws...
, who finds that as many as 2.45 million crimes are thwarted each year in the United States, and in most cases, the potential victim never fires a shot in these cases where firearms are used constructively for self-protection. The results of the Kleck studies have been cited many times in scholarly and popular media.
McDowall cites methodological issues with the Kleck studies, claiming that Kleck used a very small
sample sizeSampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of individual observations intended to yield some knowledge about a population of concern, especially for the purposes of statistical inference....
and did not confine self-defense to attempted victimizations where physical attacks had already commenced. The former criticism, however, is inaccurate — Kleck's survey with Marc Gertz in fact used the largest sample size of any survey that ever asked respondents about defensive gun use — 4,977 cases, far more than is typical in national surveys. A study of gun use in the 1990s, by
David HemenwayDavid Hemenway is Professor of Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. He has a B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in economics. He is the director of the and the . He is also currently a James Marsh Visiting Professor-at-Large at the University of Vermont. Dr...
at the
HarvardHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
Injury Control Research Center, found that criminal use of guns is far more common than self-defense use of guns. By the Kleck study, however, most successful preventions of victimizations are accomplished without a shot being fired, which are not counted as a self-defense firearm usage by either the Hemenway or McDowall studies.
Public policy
Research and statistics have shown that guns intensify crime situations, and increase the likelihood of a more violent or lethal outcome.
Public policyPublic policy can be generally defined as the course of action or inaction taken by governmental entities with regard to a particular issue or set of issues...
approaches generally focus on ways that
law enforcementIn North American English, a Law enforcement agency is an organisation that enforces the law.Outside North America, such organisations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police, others have other names In North American English, a Law enforcement agency...
and regulatory agencies may intervene. This includes intervention when a gun is
acquiredAcquisition may refer to:*Takeover, the acquisition of a company*Mergers and acquisitions, strategy of buying and selling of various companies to quickly grow a company...
, as with policies prohibiting youths and those with criminal records from buying guns. Policies can also make it illegal for guns to be brought to a crime scene, as in restriction or regulation of who may carry concealed weapons. Policies can also focus on use, by mandating increased sentences for those who use guns in crime, or by requiring guns to have certain safety features.
Gun control proponents often cite the relatively high number of homicides committed with firearms as reason to support stricter gun control laws.
Firearm lawFirearm case law, in the history of the United States, has been directly addressed by the Supreme Court and other federal courts, many times. These cases deal with Second Amendment, which is a part of the Bill of Rights, the Commerce Clause and/or federal laws regulating firearms possession.-United...
s are a subject of great debate in the United States, with firearms also widely used for recreational purposes, and for personal protection. Gun rights advocates cite the use of firearms for self-protection and to deter violent crime as reasons why more guns can reduce crime. Gun rights advocates also say criminals are the least likely to obey firearms laws, and so limiting access to guns by law-abiding people makes them more vulnerable to armed criminals.
Criminologist Philip J. Cook argues for public policy goals of keeping guns out of violent encounters, and recommends approaches that limit the availability of guns to high-risk groups and the accessibility of guns in volatile situations. Cook suggests measures such as
background checkA background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....
s for gun purchasers; banning small, easily-concealed handguns; intensive enforcement of illegal gun carrying; and tougher sentences imposed on those convicted of using a gun in a crime.
Access to firearms
U.S. policy aims to maintain the right of legitimate users to own most types of firearms, while restricting access to firearms by those individuals in high risk groups. Gun dealers in the United States are prohibited from selling handguns to those under the age of 21, and
long gunThe term long gun is used to describe classes of firearm and cannon with longer barrels than other classes. In small arms, a long gun is designed to be fired braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun, while in artillery a long gun would be contrasted with a howitzer or carronade.-Small...
s to those under the age of 18. There are also restrictions on selling guns to out-of-state residents.
Assuming access to guns, the top ten types of guns involved in crime in the U.S. show a definite trend in favoring handguns over long guns. The top ten guns used in crime, as reported by the ATF in 1993, included the
Smith & WessonSmith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...
.38 Special and .357 revolvers;
Raven ArmsThe MP-25 is a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol developed by George Jennings in the late 1960s. In 1970, Jennings designed the inexpensive MP-25 pistol and founded Raven Arms, which was also known as the original Ring of Fire company...
.25 caliber,
DavisThe MP-25 is a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol developed by George Jennings in the late 1960s. In 1970, Jennings designed the inexpensive MP-25 pistol and founded Raven Arms, which was also known as the original Ring of Fire company...
P-380 .380 caliber,
RugerThe Ruger MK II is a rimfire semi-automatic pistol chambered in .22 Long Rifle and manufactured Sturm, Ruger & Company. Ruger rimfire pistols are some of the most popular handguns made, with over three million sold.-Models:...
.22 caliber,
LorcinThe MP-25 is a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol developed by George Jennings in the late 1960s. In 1970, Jennings designed the inexpensive MP-25 pistol and founded Raven Arms, which was also known as the original Ring of Fire company...
L-380 .380 caliber, and Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handguns;
MossbergThe Mossberg 500 is a shotgun manufactured by O.F. Mossberg & Sons. Rather than a single model, the 500 is really a series of widely varying hammerless, pump action repeaters, all of which share the same basic receiver and action, but differ in bore size, barrel length, choke options, magazine...
and
RemingtonRemington Arms is a major American manufacturer of rifles, shotguns, other firearms, revolvers and ammunition. They also license the Remington name to hunting apparel, Arctic Cat ATV's, and other hunting and shooting products manufactured by other companies. It was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet...
12 gauge shotguns; and the
Tec DC-9The Intratec TEC-DC9 is a blowback-operated, semi-automatic 9x19mm Parabellum caliber firearm, classified by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as a handgun....
. An earlier 1985 study of 1,800 incarcerated felons showed that criminals prefer revolvers and other non-semi-automatic firearms over semi-automatic firearms. In Pittsburgh, a change in preferences towards pistols occurred in the early 1990s, coinciding with the arrival of crack cocaine and rise of violent youth gangs. Background checks in California, during 1998 to 2000, resulted in 1% of sales being initially denied. The types of guns most often denied included semiautomatic pistols with short barrels and of medium caliber.
Among juveniles (for example, minors under the age of 16, 17, or 18, depending on legal jurisdiction) serving in correctional facilities, 86% owned a gun at some point, with 66% acquiring their first gun by age 14. There is also a tendency for juvenile offenders to own many firearms, with 65% owning three or more. Juveniles most often acquire guns from family, friends,
drug dealerThe illegal drug trade is a global black market consisting of the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of illegal controlled drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug control laws...
s, and street contacts. Inner-city youths cite "self-protection from enemies" as the top reason for carrying a gun. In
Rochester, New YorkRochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. The Rochester metropolitan area is the second largest economy in New York State, behind the New York City metropolitan area. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and...
, 22% of young males have carried an illegal gun, though most for only a short period of time. There is little overlap between legal gun ownership and illegal gun carrying among youths.
Firearms market
Policy that is targeted at the supply side of the firearms market is based on limited research, with this an active area of ongoing research. One important consideration is that only 60-70% of firearms sales in the United States are transacted through federally licensed firearm dealers, with the remainder taking place in the "secondary market." Most sales to youths and convicted felons take place in the "secondary market," in which previously-owned firearms are transferred by unlicensed individuals. Access to "secondary markets" is generally less convenient and involves such risks as the gun perhaps having been used previously in a homicide. Unlicensed private sellers are permitted by law to sell privately-owned guns at gun shows, or at private locations, in 24 states (as of 1998). Regulations that limit the number of handgun sales in the primary, regulated market to
one handgun a monthA one-handgun a month law is designed to cut off the supply of guns to criminals by limiting handgun purchases to one every thirty days per person...
per customer have been shown to be effective at reducing illegal gun trafficking by reducing the supply into the "secondary market."
TaxTo tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es on firearms and
ammunitionAmmunition, often informally referred to as ammo, is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
purchases are another means for government to influence the primary market.
Federally licensed firearm dealers in the primary (new and used gun) market are regulated by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and ExplosivesThe Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a specialized federal law enforcement agency and regulatory organization within the United States Department of Justice...
(ATF). Firearm manufacturers are required to put
serial numberA serial number is a unique number assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value...
s on all new firearms. This allows the ATF to trace guns involved in crimes back to their last
Federal Firearms LicenseA Federal Firearms License, , is a license that enables an individual or a company to engage in a business pertaining to the manufacture of firearms and ammunition or the interstate and intrastate sale of firearms...
(FFL) reported change of ownership transaction, although not past the first private sale involving any particular gun. A report by the ATF released in 1999, found that 0.4% of federally-licensed dealers sold half of the guns used criminally in 1996 and 1997. This is sometimes done through "
straw purchaseA straw purchase is any purchase whereby the purchaser is knowingly acquiring an item or service for someone who is, for whatever reason, unable to purchase the item or service themselves....
s." State laws, such as those in
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
and
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, that restrict the number of gun purchases in a month may help stem such "straw purchases." An estimated 500,000 guns are also
stolenIn criminal law, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's freely-given consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting, fraud and sometimes...
each year, allowing them to get into the hands of prohibited users. During the ATF's
Youth Crime Gun Interdiction InitiativeThe Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during the late-1990s...
(YCGII), which involved expanded tracing of firearms recovered by law enforcement agencies, only 18% of guns used criminally that were recovered in 1998 were in possession of the original owner. Guns recovered by police during criminal investigations often have been previously sold by legitimate retail sales outlets to legal owners and then diverted to criminal use over elapsed times ranging from just a few months to just a few years, which makes them relatively new compared with firearms in general circulation.
Federal legislation
The first Federal legislation related to firearms was the
Second AmendmentThe Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects a right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights...
, ratified in 1791. For 143 years, this was the only Federal legislation regarding firearms. The next Federal firearm legislation was the
National Firearms ActThe National Firearms Act , 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, , enacted 1934-06-26, currently codified as amended as ) is an Act of Congress passed in 1934 that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those NFA....
of 1934. This Act created regulations for the sale of firearms, established taxes on their sale, and required registration of some types of firearms such as
machine gunA machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rifle bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute...
s.
In the aftermath of the Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations, the
Gun Control Act of 1968The Gun Control Act of 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-618, 82 Stat. 1213 is a federal law in the United States that broadly regulates the firearms industry and firearms owners...
was enacted. This Act regulated gun commerce, restricting
mail orderMail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
sales, and allowing shipments only to licensed firearm dealers. The Act also prohibited
felonA felony is a serious crime in the United States and previously other common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
s, those under
indictmentIn the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal accusation that a person has committed a criminal offence. In those jurisdictions which retain the concept of a felony, the serious criminal offence would be a felony; those jurisdictions which have abolished the concept of a felony often...
,
fugitiveA fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. As a verbal metaphor and psychological concept, one might also be described as a "fugitive...
s,
illegal alienIllegal Alien or Illegal Aliens may refer to:* Alien , legal concept of legality of aliens* Illegal Aliens , a 2007 film starring Anna Nicole Smith and Chyna...
s, drug users, those
dishonorably dischargedA military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve.-Military discharge in the United States:...
from the
militaryThe United States armed forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States.The history of the United States armed forces dates to 1775, even before the Declaration of Independence marked the establishment of the United States...
, and those in
mental institutionA psychiatric hospital, sometimes known as an asylum, is a hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental illness, usually for relatively long-term inpatients....
s from owning guns. The law also restricted importation of
Saturday night specialThe phrase Saturday night special is pejorative slang used in the United States and Canada for any inexpensive handgun. Saturday night specials have been defined as compact, inexpensive handguns with low perceived quality; however, there is no official definition of "Saturday night special" under...
s and other types of guns, and limited the sale of automatic weapons and semi-automatic weapons conversion kits.
The
Firearm Owners Protection ActThe Firearm Owners' Protection Act , Pub. L. No. 99-308, 100 Stat. 449 , codified at et seq., is a United States federal law that revised many statutes in the Gun Control Act of 1968.-Federal Firearms License regulatory reform:...
, also known as the McClure-Volkmer Act, was passed in 1986. It changed some restrictions in the 1968 Act, allowing federally-licensed gun dealers, as well as individual unlicensed private sellers, to sell at
gun showA gun show is a temporary exhibition or gathering where guns, gun parts, gun accessories, ammunition, and gun literature, as well as knives, jerky, militaria, and miscellaneous collectibles are legally displayed, bought, sold, and discussed. Gun shows also often include exhibitions related to...
s, while continuing to require licensed gun dealers to require background checks. The 1986 Act also restricted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms from conducting repetitive inspections, reduced the amount of recordkeeping required of gun dealers, raised the burden of proof for convicting gun law violators, and changed restrictions on convicted
felonA felony is a serious crime in the United States and previously other common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
s from owning firearms.
In the years following the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, people buying guns were required to show
identificationAn identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
and sign a statement affirming that they were not in any of the prohibited categories. Many
statesA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
enacted
background checkA background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....
laws that went beyond the federal requirements. The
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention ActThe Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 was an Act of the United States Congress that instituted controls on the sale of handguns in the United States....
passed by Congress in 1993 imposed a waiting period before the purchase of a handgun, allowing a background check. The Brady Act also required the establishment of a national system to provide instant criminal background checks, with checks to be done by firearms dealers. The Brady Act only applied to people who bought guns from licensed dealers, whereas most felons buy guns from a black market. Restrictions, such as waiting periods, are opposed by many, who argue that they impose costs and inconveniences on legitimate gun purchasers, such as hunters.
The
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement ActThe Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, , , was an act of Congress dealing with crime and law enforcement that became law in 1994. It is the largest crime bill in the history of the US at 356 pages and will provide for 200,000 new police officers, $9.7 billion in funding for prisons and...
, enacted in 1994, included the
Federal Assault Weapons BanThe Federal Assault Weapons Ban was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the sale to civilians of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons." There was no legal definition of...
, and was a response to public concern over
mass shootingMass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people, typically over a relatively short period of time. Mass murder may be committed by individuals or organizations. Mass murder is also defined to be intentional and indiscriminate murder of large number of people by government agents...
s. This provision prohibited the manufacture and importation of some semiautomatic firearms that exhibitied military style features such as a folding stock, pistol grip and flash suppressor, as well as magazines holding more than ten rounds. A
grandfather clauseA grandfather clause is an exception that allows an old rule to continue to apply to some existing situations, when a new rule will apply to all future situations. It is often used as a verb: to grandfather means to grant such an exemption. Frequently, the exemption is limited; it may extend for a...
was included that allowed firearms manufactured before 1994 to remain legal. A short-term evaluation by
University of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and is one of several institutions that claims to have been the first university in America...
criminologists,
Christopher S. KoperChristopher S. Koper is criminologist at the University of Pennsylvania's Jerry Lee Center of Criminology and the Firearm and Injury Center.Koper specializes in research pertaining to firearms and gun violence, policing, research and statistical methodology, and white-collar crime...
and
Jeffrey A. RothJeffrey A. Roth is criminologist and associate director for research at the University of Pennsylvania's Jerry Lee Center of Criminology.Roth's research has focused on juvenile crime trends, particularly the decrease in crime rates since 1993....
, did not find any clear impact of this legislation on gun violence. Given the short study time period of the evaluation, the
National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code....
also advised caution in drawing any conclusions. In September 2004, the assault weapon ban expired, with its sunset clause.
The
Domestic Violence Offender Gun BanThe Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban was an amendment to the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 enacted by the 104th United States Congress in 1996...
,
'the Lautenberg Amendment' , prohibited anyone previously convicted of a misdemeanor crime of
domestic violenceDomestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, child abuse or intimate partner violence , can be broadly defined a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, friends or cohabitation...
from owning a firearm. It also banned shipment, transport, ownership and use of guns or ammunition by individuals convicted of
misdemeanorA misdemeanor, or misdemeanour in many common law legal systems, is a "lesser" criminal act. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions...
or
felonyA felony is a serious crime in the United States and previously other common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
domestic violence. This law also outlawed the sale or gift of a firearm or ammunition to such a person. It was passed in 1996, and became effective in 1997. Some opponents believe that the law conflicts with the right to keep and bear arms protected by the
Second Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects a right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights...
, and this law has modified the Second Amendment to a revocable privilege from a fundamental protection. Opponents of this law tend to describe the law by the name "
the Lautenberg Amendment." The law applies to everyone, including police officers and military personnel, and can cause difficulties by prohibiting active duty military and police from carrying guns, due to prior civilian misdemeanor convictions.
In the immediate aftermath of
Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest, in the history of the United States...
, police and National Guard units in New Orleans confiscated firearms from private citizens in an attempt to prevent violence. In reaction,
CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
passed the
Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006The Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006 was a bill introduced in the United States Congress intended to prohibit the confiscation of legally-possessed firearms during a disaster...
in the form of an amendment to
Department of Homeland SecurityThe United States Department of Homeland Security is a Cabinet department of the United States federal government with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the U.S...
Appropriations Act, 2007. Section 706 of the Act prohibits federal employees and those receiving federal funds from confiscating legally-possessed firearms during a disaster.
Right-to-carry
Right-to-carry laws expanded in the 1990s as homicide rates from gun violence in the United States increased, largely in response to incidents such as the
Luby's massacreThe Luby's massacre was a spree killing that took place on October 16, 1991 in Killeen, Texas, United States when George Jo Hennard drove his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot and killed 23 people, wounded another 20 and then committed suicide by shooting himself...
of 1991 in Texas which directly resulted in the passage of a
carrying concealed weaponIn the United States, carrying a concealed weapon is the legal authorization for private citizens to carry a handgun or other weapons in public in a concealed manner, either on the person or in close proximity to the person. In some states, it is sufficient to be a resident or permanent resident...
, or
CCW, law in Texas in 1995.
As Rorie Sherman, staff reporter for the
National Law Journal wrote in an article published on April 18, 1994, "It is a time of unparalleled desperation about crime. But the mood is decidedly 'I'll do it myself' and 'Don't get in my way.'"
The result was laws that permitted persons to carry firearms openly, known as
open carryOpen carry is shorthand terminology for "openly carrying a firearm in public", as distinguished from concealed carry, where firearms cannot be seen by the casual observer. It is also called "open display".- Open carry in history :...
, often without any permit required, in 22 states by 1998. Laws that permitted persons to carry concealed
handgunA handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand, with the other hand optionally supporting the shooting hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from their larger counterparts: long guns such as rifles and shotguns , mounted weapons such...
s, sometimes termed a
concealed handgun license,
CHL, or
concealed pistol license,
CPL in some jurisdictions instead of
CCW, existed in 34 states in the United States by 2004. Since then, the number of states with CCW laws has increased; as of late 2006, 48 states have some form of CCW laws on the books.
Economist
John LottJohn Richard Lott Jr. is a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has previously held research positions at other academic institutions including the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and the American...
has argued that right-to-carry laws create a perception that more potential crime victims might be carrying firearms, and thus serve as a
deterrentDeterrence is but a theory from behavioral psychology about preventing or controlling actions or behavior through fear of punishment or retribution...
against crime. Lott's study has been criticized for not adequately controlling for other factors, including other state laws also enacted, such as
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
's laws requiring background checks and waiting period for handgun buyers. When Lott's data was re-analyzed by some researchers, the only statistically significant effect of concealed-carry laws found was an increase in
assaultAssault is a crime of violence against another person. In some jurisdictions, including Australia and New Zealand, assault refers to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, while in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, assault may refer only to the threat...
s, with similar findings by Jens Ludwig. Since concealed-carry permits are only given to adults, Philip J. Cook suggests that analysis should focus on the relationship with adult and not juvenile gun incident rates. He finds a small, positive effect of concealed-carry laws on adult homicide rates, but states the effect is not
statistically significantIn statistics, a result is called statistically significant if it is unlikely to have occurred by chance. The phrase test of significance was coined by Ronald Fisher....
. The National Academy of Science has found no evidence that shows right-to-carry laws have an impact, either way, on rates of
violent crimeA violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...
. NAS suggests that new analytical approaches and datasets at the county or local level are needed to evaluate adequately the impact of right-to-carry laws.
Child Access Prevention (CAP)
Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws, enacted by many states, require parents to store firearms safely, to minimize access by children to guns, while maintaining ease of access by adults. CAP laws hold gun owners
liableLegal liability is the legal bound obligation to pay debts.* In law a person is said to be legal liable when they are financially and legally responsible for something. Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law. See Strict liability. Under English law, with the passing of the Theft...
should a child gain access to a loaded gun that is not properly stored. Statistics from the
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, Georgia. It works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions, and it promotes health through...
showed that three children per day, on average, died in accidental handgun incidents in the United States from 2000 to 2005, the last year for which data were available. In most states, CAP law violations are considered
misdemeanorA misdemeanor, or misdemeanour in many common law legal systems, is a "lesser" criminal act. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions...
s.
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
's CAP law, enacted in 1989, permits
felonyA felony is a serious crime in the United States and previously other common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
prosecution of violators. Research indicates that CAP laws are correlated with a reduction in unintentional gun deaths by 23%, and gun suicides among those aged 14 through 17 by 11%. A study by
LottJohn Richard Lott Jr. is a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has previously held research positions at other academic institutions including the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and the American...
did not detect a relationship between CAP laws and accidental gun deaths or suicides among those age 19 and under between 1979 and 1996. The
National Bureau of Economic ResearchThe National Bureau of Economic Research is a US private, nonprofit research organization dedicated to studying the science and empirics of economics, especially the American economy. It is "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business...
has found that CAP laws are correlated with a reduction of non-fatal gun injuries among both children and adults by 30-40%. Research also indicates that CAP laws are most highly correlated with reductions of non-fatal gun injuries in states where violations are considered felonies, whereas in states that consider violations as misdemeanors, the potential impact of CAP laws is not statistically significant. All of these studies are correlational, and do not account for other potential contributing factors.
Local restrictions
Some local jurisdictions in the United States have more restrictive laws, such as
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
's
Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975The Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 was passed by the District of Columbia city council on September 24, 1976. On June 26, 2008, in the historic case of District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court of the United States determined that the ban and trigger lock provision violate the...
, which banned residents from owning handguns, and required permitted firearms be disassembled and locked with a trigger lock. On March 9, 2007, a
U.S. Circuit CourtThe United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
ruled the Washington, D.C. handgun ban unconstitutional. (For more on this case, see:
Parker v. District of Columbia.)
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
is also known for its strict gun control laws. Despite local laws, guns are often trafficked into cities from other parts of the United States, particularly the southern states. Results from the ATF's Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative indicate that the percentage of imported guns involved in crimes is tied to the stringency of local firearm laws.
Prevention programs
Violence prevention and
educational programAn educational program is a program written by the ministry of education which determines the learning progress of each subject in all the stages of formal education....
s have been established in many
schoolA school , is an institution designed to allow and encourage students to learn, under the supervision of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s and communities across the United States. These programs aim to change personal behavior of both children and their
parentA parent is a mother or father; one who sires or gives birth to and/or nurtures and raises an offspring. The different roles of parents vary throughout the tree of life, and are especially complex in human culture.- Father :...
s, encouraging children to stay away from guns, ensure parents store guns safely, and encourage children to
solve disputesDispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between parties.-Methods:Methods of dispute resolution include:* lawsuits * arbitration* collaborative law* mediation* conciliation* many types of negotiation* facilitation...
without resorting to violence. Programs aimed at altering
behaviorBehavior or behaviour refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. Behavior can be conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary....
range from
passivePassive is the opposite of active. It has several specific meanings:* Passive voice of a verb* Passivation is the formation of a non-reactive surface film that inhibits further corrosion of a metal* Passive language, a kind of metalanguage...
(requiring no effort on part of the individual) to active (supervising children, or placing a
trigger lockA trigger lock is a device designed to prevent a firearm from being discharged while the device is in place. Generally, two pieces come together from either side behind the trigger and are locked in place, which can be unlocked with a key or combination. This physically prevents the trigger from...
on a gun). The more effort required of people, the more difficult it is to implement a
preventionCrime prevention is the attempt to reduce victimization and to deter crime and criminals. It is applied specifically to efforts made by governments to reduce crime, enforce the law, and maintain criminal justice....
strategy. Prevention strategies focused on modifying the situational environment and the firearm itself may be more effective. Empirical
evaluationEvaluation is systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone using criteria against a set of standards. Evaluation often is used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, criminal justice,...
of gun violence prevention programs has been limited. Of the evaluations that have been done, results indicate such programs have minimal effectiveness.
The 1-866-SPEAK-UP Hotline
SPEAK UP is a national violence prevention initiative created by [PAX]
http://www.paxusa.org/index.html, which provides students with tools to improve the safety of their schools and communities. Based on the fact that in 81% of school shootings the attackers tell other students about their plans beforehand, the SPEAK UP program features the first-ever, national toll-free hotline for students to report threats of weapon-related violence at school (1-866-SPEAK-UP). The 1-866-SPEAK-UP hotline is the only national hotline for students to anonymously report weapon threats 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The hotline is operated in accordance with a rigid protocol developed in collaboration with national education and law enforcement authorities, including the FBI. Trained counselors, with instant access to translators for 140 languages, collect information from callers and then immediately report the threat to appropriate school and law enforcement officials. The counselors also have access to an extensive database of local, city, and state referral sources, which they can offer callers who call with issues unrelated to school violence or weapon threats. Since its launch in 2002, the hotline has received over 30,000 calls from students nationwide.
http://www.paxusa.org/speakup/about.html The 1-866-SPEAK-UP Hotline is sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, Children's Defense Fund, National Alliance for Safe Schools, National Association of School Nurses, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of School Safety & Law Enforcement Officers, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Education Association, National Head Start Association, National School Safety Center and the National School Boards Association, among others.
http://www.paxusa.org/speakup/partners.html
Gun safety parent counseling
One of the most widely used parent counseling programs is Steps to Prevent Firearm Injury program (STOP), which was developed in 1994 by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. STOP was superseded by STOP 2 in 1998, which has a broader focus including more communities and health care providers. STOP has been evaluated and found not to have a significant effect on gun ownership or firearm storage practices by inner-city parents. Marjorie S. Hardy suggests further evaluation of STOP is needed, as this evaluation had a limited sample size and lacked a control group.
Children
Prevention programs geared towards children have also not been greatly successful. Many inherent challenges arise when working with children, including their tendency to perceive themselves as invulnerable to injury, limited ability to apply lessons learned, their innate curiosity, and
peer pressurePeer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member , or a social clique...
.
The goal of gun safety programs, usually administered by local firearms dealers and shooting clubs, is to teach older children and adolescents how to handle firearms safely. There has been no systematic evaluation of the effect of these programs on children. For adults, no positive effect on gun storage practices has been found as a result of these programs. Also, researchers have found that gun safety programs for children may likely increase a child's interest in obtaining and using guns, which they cannot be expected to use safely all the time, even with training.
One approach taken is gun avoidance, such as when encountering a firearm at a neighbor's home. The
Eddie EagleThe Eddie Eagle program and its namesake character were developed by the National Rifle Association for children who are generally considered too young to be allowed to handle firearms...
Gun Safety Program, administered by the
National Rifle AssociationThe National Rifle Association of America, or NRA, is an American non-partisan, non-profit organization which lists as its goals the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the...
(NRA), is geared towards younger children from pre-
kindergartenis a form of education for young children which serves as a transition from home to the commencement of more formal schooling. Children are taught to develop basic skills through creative play and social interaction. In most countries kindergarten is part of the preschool system of early childhood...
to sixth grade, and teaches kids that real guns are not toys by emphasizing a "just say no" approach. The Eddie Eagle program is based on training children in a four-step action to take when they see a firearm: (1) Stop! (2) Don't touch! (3) Leave the area. (4) Go tell an adult. Materials, such as coloring books and posters, back the lessons up and provide the repetition necessary in any child-education program. The ineffectiveness of the "just say no" approach promoted by the NRA's Eddie the Eagle program was highlighted in an investigative piece by ABC's Diane Sawyer in 1999.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7282623 Sawyer's piece was based on academic studies conducted by Dr. Marjorie Hardy, assistant professor of psychology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
http://www.parents.com/kids/teens/violence/is-there-a-gun-in-the-house/?page=3 Dr. Hardy's study tracked the behavior of elementary age schoolchildren who spent a day learning the Eddie the Eagle four-step action plan from a uniformed police officer. The children were then placed into a playroom which contained a hidden gun. When the children found the gun they did run away from the gun, but rather, they inevitably played with it, pulled the trigger while looking into the barrel, or aimed the gun at a playmate and pulled the trigger. The study concluded that children's natural curiosity was far more powerful than the parental admonition to "Just say no".
http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/pubs/ivpaguide/appendix/patten-sayingno.pdf
Some gun control advocacy groups have developed their own programs, such as Straight Talk about Risks (STAR), administered by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and Hands without Guns, run by the Joshua Horwitz Educational Fund to End Handgun Violence.
Community programs
Programs targeted at entire
communitiesIn biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment.In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of...
, such as community revitalization, after-school programs, and
media campaignsA public service announcement or community service announcement is a non-commercial advertisement broadcast on radio or television, for the public interest. PSAs are intended to modify public attitudes by raising awareness about specific issues. The most common topics of PSAs are health and safety...
, may be more effective in reducing the general level of violence that children are exposed to. Community-based programs that have specifically targeted gun violence include Safe Kids/Healthy Neighborhoods Injury Prevention Program in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and Safe Homes and Havens in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
. Evaluation of such community-based programs is difficult, due to many confounding factors and the multifaceted nature of such programs.
Intervention programs
SociologistSociology is the scientific or systematic study of human societies. It is a branch of social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such...
James D. Wright suggests that to convince inner-city youths not to carry guns "requires convincing them that they can survive in their neighborhood without being armed, that they can come and go in peace, that being unarmed will not cause them to be victimized, intimidated, or slain." Intervention programs, such as
Operation CeasefireOperation Ceasefire is a youth gun violence intervention strategy, first implemented in 1996 in Boston.-Boston:...
in
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
and
Project ExileProject Exile was a controversial federal program started in Richmond, Virginia in 1997. Project Exile shifted the prosecution of illegal technical gun possession offenses to federal court, where they carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison under the federal Gun...
in
Richmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
during the 1990s, have been shown to be effective. Other intervention strategies, such as gun "buy-back" programs have been demonstrated to be ineffective.
Gun "buy-back" programs
Gun "buy-back" programs are a strategy aimed at influencing the firearms market by taking guns "off the streets". Gun "buy-back" programs have been shown to be ineffective, with the
National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code....
citing theory underlying these programs as "badly flawed." Guns surrendered tend to be those least likely to be involved in crime, such as old, malfunctioning guns with little resale value, muzzleloading or other blackpowder guns, antiques chambered for obsolete cartridges that are no longer commercially manufactured or sold, or guns that individuals
inheritInheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
but have little value in possessing. Other limitations of gun "buy-back" programs include the fact that it is relatively easy to obtain gun replacements, often of better guns than were relinquished in the "buy-back." Also, the number of handguns used in crime (approximately 7,500 per year) is very small compared to the approximately 70 million handguns in the United States (i.e., 0.011%).
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
The
Mayors Against Illegal Guns CoalitionThe Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition is a coalition of mayors and former mayors, with the stated goal of urging the federal Congress to pass laws to control the trade in illegal firearms and to pass laws to make it easier for law enforcement to identify the origin of guns used in crime.The...
is a bipartisan coalition of 210 mayors from 40 different United States cities, united in their stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal
gunsGun politics is a set of legal issues surrounding the ownership, use, and regulation of firearms as well as safety issues related to firearms both through their direct use and through legal and criminal use.-International:-National sovereignty:...
off the streets."
The group was formed on April 25, 2006, during a summit held at
Gracie MansionGracie Mansion is the official residence of the Mayor of New York City. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and Eighty-eighth Street in Manhattan. It overlooks Hell Gate.-Architecture:...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
that was hosted by
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
Mayor
Thomas MeninoThomas Michael Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor.-Biography:...
and New York Mayor
Michael BloombergMichael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. He was listed as the eighth-richest American, with a net worth of US $16 billion, in the Forbes 400 on September 17, 2008, making him the richest resident of New York City, ahead of David H. Koch...
.
Operation Ceasefire
In 1995,
Operation CeasefireOperation Ceasefire is a youth gun violence intervention strategy, first implemented in 1996 in Boston.-Boston:...
was established as a strategy for stemming the epidemic of youth gun violence in Boston. Violence was particularly concentrated in poor, inner-city neighborhoods including
RoxburyRoxbury is a neighborhood within Boston, Massachusetts USA. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868. The original town of Roxbury once included the current Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica...
,
DorchesterDorchester is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated. Dorchester, including a large portion of today's Boston, was separately incorporated in 1630. It was still a primarily rural...
, and Mattapan. There were 22 youths (under the age of 24) killed in Boston in 1987, with that figure rising to 73 in 1990. Operation Ceasefire entailed a
problem-oriented policingProblem-oriented policing , coined by University of Wisconsin–Madison professor Herman Goldstein, is a policing strategy that involves the identification and analysis of specific crime and disorder problems, in order to develop effective response strategies in conjunction with ongoing...
approach, and focused on specific places that were crime hot spots—two strategies that when combined have been shown to be quite effective. Particular focus was placed on two elements of the gun violence problem, including illicit gun trafficking and gang violence. Within two years of implementing Operation Ceasefire in Boston, the number of youth homicides dropped to ten, with only one handgun-related youth homicide occurring in 1999 and 2000. The Operation Ceasefire strategy has since been replicated in other cities, including
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
.
Project Exile
Project ExileProject Exile was a controversial federal program started in Richmond, Virginia in 1997. Project Exile shifted the prosecution of illegal technical gun possession offenses to federal court, where they carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison under the federal Gun...
, conducted in Richmond, Virginia during the 1990s, was a coordinated effort involving federal, state, and local officials that targeted gun violence. The strategy entailed prosecution of gun violations in Federal courts, where sentencing guidelines were tougher. Project Exile also involved outreach and education efforts through media campaigns, getting the message out about the crackdown. Project Exile was evaluated and shown to be effective, however researchers also point out that Richmond might have experienced declining homicide trends anyway during the evaluation period, owing to overall national trends.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Project Safe NeighborhoodsProject Safe Neighborhoods is a national initiative in the United States aimed at reducing gun violence in the United States. PSN was designed to develop, implement, and evaluate data-driven violence reduction strategies in the community, and improve the long-term prevention of gun violence....
(PSN) is a national strategy for reducing gun violence that builds on the strategies implemented in Operation Ceasefire and
Project ExileProject Exile was a controversial federal program started in Richmond, Virginia in 1997. Project Exile shifted the prosecution of illegal technical gun possession offenses to federal court, where they carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison under the federal Gun...
. PSN was established in 2001, with support from the
Bush administrationThe Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
, channelled through the
United States Attorney's OfficesUnited States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
in the
United States Department of JusticeThe United States Department of Justice is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans...
. The
Federal governmentThe federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and...
has spent over
US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
1.5 billion since the program's inception on the hiring of
prosecutorThe prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
s, and providing assistance to state and local jurisdictions in support of training and community outreach efforts.
Research limitations
In the United States,
researchResearch can be defined to be search for knowledge or any systematic investigation to establish facts. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of...
into firearms and violent crime is fraught with difficulties, associated with limited
dataThe term data means groups of information that represent the qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables...
on gun ownership and use, firearms markets, and aggregation of crime data. Research studies into gun violence have primarily taken one of two approaches:
case-controlCase-control is a type of epidemiological study design. Case-control studies are used to identify factors that may contribute to a medical condition by comparing subjects who have that condition with patients who do not have the condition but are otherwise similar .Case-control studies are a...
studies and
social ecologySocial Ecology is a philosophy developed by Murray Bookchin in the 1960s.It holds that present ecological problems are rooted in deep-seated social problems, particularly in dominatory hierarchical political and social systems. These have resulted in an uncritical acceptance of an overly...
. Gun ownership is usually determined through
surveysStatistical surveys are used to collect quantitative information about items in a population. Surveys of human populations and institutions are common in political polling and government, health, social science and marketing research. A survey may focus on opinions or factual information depending...
,
proxyIn statistics, a proxy variable is something that is probably not in itself of any great interest, but from which a variable of interest can be obtained...
variables, and sometimes with
productionMass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
and
importAn import is any good or service brought in from one country to another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade. It is a good that is brought in from another country for sale. Import goods or services are provided to domestic consumers by foreign producers...
figures. In statistical analysis of homicides and other types of crime which are rare events, these data tend to have
poisson distributionIn probability theory and statistics, the Poisson distribution is a discrete probability distribution that expresses the probability of a number of events occurring in a fixed period of time if these events occur with a known average rate and independently of the time since the last event...
s, which also presents methodological challenges to researchers. With data aggregation, it is difficult to make inferences about individual behavior. This problem, known as
ecological fallacyAn ecological fallacy, often called an ecological inference fallacy, is an error in the interpretation of statistical data in an ecological study, whereby inferences about the nature of specific individuals are based solely upon aggregate statistics collected for the group to which those...
, is not always handled properly by researchers, leading some to jump to conclusions that their data do not necessarily support.
See also
- Crime in the United States
Crime in the United States is characterized by high levels of violence and homicide compared to other developed countries. Some authors attribute both trends to the fact that criminals in America are more likely to have firearms. Crime statistics are published annually by the Federal Bureau of...
- Gun politics in the United States
Gun politics in the United States, incorporating the political aspects of gun politics, and firearms rights, has long been among the most controversial and intractable issues in American politics...
- John Lott
John Richard Lott Jr. is a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has previously held research positions at other academic institutions including the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and the American...
External links
- Gun violence - National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)