Firearms and Violence A Critical Review (2005) / Chapter Skim
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3 Patterns of Firearm-Related Violence
3 Patterns of Firearm-Related Violence
Pages 53-71
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From page 53... ...
Subsequent sections present some basic facts about firearms involvement in violent crime, self-harm and suicide, and unintentional injury in the United States.2 Because homicides and suicides are not randomly distributed in the population, we describe the variations in these behaviors by gender and race. These variations further demonstrate the need for refined studies and explanations of the role of firearms in violence.
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From page 54... ...
While the vast majority of these studies conclude that homicides and availability are closely associated (Lester, 1990; Killias, 1993a, 1993b; Hemenway and Miller, 2000) , the methodological problems in this research (measurement of key variables is of questionable validity, the use of nation-states as the unit of analysis may mask subnational variability, and models tested are poorly specified)
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From page 55... ...
PATTERNS OF FIREARM-RELATED VIOLENCE 55 TABLE 3-1 International Firearms Homicide and Suicide Rates Total Firearm Total Firearm Percentage Homicides Homicides Suicides Suicides Households (per (per (per (per with Country Year 100,000)
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From page 56... ...
. Scholars have also used a varied list of indirect measures or proxies to measure firearms availability and ownership patterns, including the percentage of suicides or homicides committed with a firearm, the fatal firearm accident rate, gun magazine subscription rates, the National Rifle Association membership rate, the hunting license rate, and the number of federal firearm licenses (Miller et al., 2002; Azrael et al., 2004; Duggan, 2001; Corzine et al., 2000; Kleck, 1997)
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From page 57... ...
These data suggest that in recent years the rate of increase has slowed: the annual number of new handguns introduced to market has declined since 1994, while annual introduction of other firearms has remained relatively stable. Survey-Based Estimates Although production-based estimates indicate a 25 percent increase in firearms availability since 1980, survey-based estimates indicate an 11 to 33 percent decrease in households reporting ownership.
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From page 58... ...
Each PSU is a "self-representing" geographic unit, in the sense that the respondents are representative of the PSU adult population. Aggregating the individual survey responses to the PSU level permits comparisons of the aggregated items, including firearms ownership, across a representative sample of U.S.
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From page 59... ...
Furthermore, firearm 6In this section we use data from the National Vital Statistics System, the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Uniform Crime Reports, and the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.
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From page 60... ...
In that case, firearm-related deaths accounted for a tiny fraction of all deaths by accidental means. Table 3-4 shows overall and firearm-related nonfatal injuries by intent based on National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS)
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From page 61... ...
Handgun homicides rose until 1993 and then fell, tracking closely the overall homicide rate, while the rates for other firearms, knives, and other weapons fell steadily and closely track each other. Thus, handgun homicides accounted for virtually all of the increase in the overall homicide rate between 1985 and 1993, the year the handgun homicide rate reached its 25-year peak of 5.4 per 100,000 (an estimated 14,005 handgun homicides)
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From page 62... ...
Young adults and adolescents are disproportionately victimized by firearm-related homicide. The rise and decline of the firearm-related homicide rate beginning in the mid-1980s was largely confined to the young adult and adolescent males (Wintemute, 2000)
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From page 63... ...
Blacks were also disproportionately affected by the rise and fall of firearm homicides in the 1980s and 1990s.10 10 Race is presented in the figure regardless of Hispanic ethnicity, since Hispanic ethnicity is not available in the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) prior to 1990.
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From page 64... ...
have had higher homicide and firearm homicide rates than smaller cities, towns, or rural areas. Firearms and Nonfatal Injuries Aggravated Assault Assaults are the most common type of nonfatal firearm injury in the United States, but firearms are not the most common method of nonfatal assault.
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From page 65... ...
Like the trends for aggravated assault and in contrast to the trends for murder, the robbery rate was not much influenced by the rates of offenses committed with firearms.
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From page 66... ...
In 1999, the number of suicides was nearly double the number of murders. In contrast, nonfatal injuries resulting from suicide attempts are much less common than injuries caused by violent assaults, regardless of weapons used.
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From page 67... ...
As the figure shows, more firearm-related suicides were committed by those 35 to 39 years old than any other five-year age grouping, although those 80 to 84 years old committed suicide at the highest rate, 13.7 per 100,000. The total suicide rate has remained relatively constant in the United States, but the proportion of suicides committed with a firearm increased steadily from the 1960s to the early 1990s before beginning a moderate decline.
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From page 68... ...
Between 1986 and 1990, the firearm suicide rate plateaued at a rate of about 7.56 per 100,000; since then, firearm suicides have fallen by 18 percent to 6.19 per 100,000 in 1999. Trends by race are presented in Figure 3-8.
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From page 69... ...
By contrast, firearm-related suicide rates for those ages 25 to 74 have been declining steadily since the early 1980s. The rates for children ages 0 to 14 have remained relatively stable, increasing slightly from 1981 to 1990, then declining to the 1981 rate by 1999.
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From page 70... ...
The male rate of firearm-related accidental deaths is much higher than the female rate. In 1999, males accounted for 88 percent of accidental firearm-related deaths; however, both males and females have contributed roughly proportionally to the declining trend.
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From page 71... ...
Although firearm-related accidental death rates have been on a downward trend for other age groups since the mid-1960s, rates for 15- to 24-year-olds rose from 1987 to 1993 and then declined.
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