Firearms homicides

Hargarten, Stephen W. Characteristics of Firearms Involved in Fatalities. JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 275, January 3, 1996, pp. 42-45. Study breaks down firearm fatalities by type of gun. Eighty-nine percent of firearm homicides were caused by handguns. Guns are categorized further by caliber and model. 

McDowall, David, Colin Loftin, and Brian Wiersema. Easing Concealed Firearms Laws Effects on Homicide in Three Stzt s. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 86, Fall 1995, pp. 193-206. Studies the effects of the liberalization of concealed-carry gun permit laws in Florida, Mississippi, and Oregon. The authors point out that firearm homicides increased in four out of the five areas studied. The authors conclude that liberalized concealed-carry does not reduce gun crime and may increase it. 

There is little disagreement that a significant number of deaths and injuries are caused by firearms, although gun deaths peaked at about 40,000 in 1995 and then started to decline. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), firearms are the second leading cause of injury death in the United States although the overall homicide rate as well as the firearm injury rate have continued to decline. 

Medical and sociological gun control advocates have also pointed out that such countries as Britain and Japan, with strict firearm controls, have far lower homicide rates than the United States. Gun rights activists question whether such cross-cultural comparisons are valid, noting that European and Japanese societies are more conformist and that it is social control, not gun control, that is responsible for their low rate of violence. 

Kellermann, Arthur L., and Donald T. Reay. Protection or Peril New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 314, June 12, 1986, pp. 1557-1560. Highly influential but controversial study of the risks of keeping firearms in the home. The authors conclude that there are 43 suicides, criminal homicides, or accidental gunshot deaths for every case of homicide for self-protection. 

Rates of Homicide, Suicide, and Firearm-Related Death among Children—26 Industrialized Countries. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 46, February 7, 1997, pp. lOlffi Concludes that the United States has by far the highest rates of child homicide, suicide, and firearms-related deaths among the industrialized nations. 

The graph Percent of Homicides Involving Guns by Age of Victim, 1976-2000 looks at the proportion of homicide victims of each age who were killed using a firearm. The peak appears to be with victims in their late teens, about three-quarters of whom were gun victims. This is followed by a steady decline as victim age increases. One intuitive reason for this peak is that young men in their late teens are more likely than older men to be involved in violent armed gangs and, in turn, to become victims of gun violence themselves. 

The graph Types of Firearm Deaths in Children, Top Ten Countries offers a chance to compare both the absolute numbers of firearm deaths of children among different countries and to compare the relative proportions of the different types of deaths (homicides, suicides, and accidents). First, as is generally expected, the rate of firearm deaths of children per 100,000 in the United States is about three times that of the nearest competitor, Finland. The proportions of homicides, suicides, and accidents vary considerably In the United States, gun homicides of children outpace suicides roughly three to one, but in Norway suicides seem to dominate by about two to one. (It should be noted that because numbers of gun deaths for children are relatively low, there may be considerable variation in relative proportions from year to year.)... 

Faced with the widespread use of firearms in criminal activity, law enforcement officers have long sought an effective method to determine if an individual has recently handled or fired a weapon. A test of this type is obviously valuable in the investigation of alleged suicides, homicides, armed assaults and other violations involving the use of firearms. 

In 1995, the Workplace Violence Institute reported that the cost of workplace violence was 35.5 bilhon dollars. The fatahties in the woikplace in 2005 were 5702 with 564 of these being homicides. Homicide is the second leading cause of workplace deaths or one in every six fatal occupational injuries. Eight percent was caused by firearms and 20% were from bombings, stabbings, or beatings. 

Firearms casualties (60% suicides and 40% homicides) Annually United States 32,000... 

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