Guns Used in Crime - Bureau of Justice Statistics

1 By Marianne W. ZawitzBJS StatisticianHow often are guns used in violent crimes? According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), million criminal victimizations oc-curred in 1993, including millionviolent crimes of rape and sexual as-sault, robbery, and aggravated the victims of these violent crimes, million (29%) stated that they facedan offender with a firearm.* In 1993, the FBI's Crime in the UnitedStates estimated that almost 2 millionviolent crimes of murder, rape, rob-bery, and aggravated assault were re-ported to the police by citizens. About582,000 of these reported murders,robberies, and aggravated assaultswere committed with firearms. Murderwas the Crime that most frequently in-volved firearms; 70% of the 24,526murders in 1993 were committed withfirearms.

2 How do we know about the gunsused by criminals?No national collection of data containsdetailed information about all of theguns used in crimes. Snapshots of information about the guns used by criminals are available from official police records concerning theguns recovered in crimes and reportsgathered from victims surveys that interview criminals surveys that interview victims of these sources, we know how often guns are involved in Crime , howguns are used in Crime , what generalcategories of firearms are most oftenused in Crime , and, to a limited extent,the specific types of guns most fre-quently used by criminals. Bureau of Justice StatisticsSelected Findings Although most Crime is not commit-ted with guns, most gun Crime is com-mitted with handguns.

3 Pages 1 & 2 Although most available guns arenot used in Crime , information aboutthe 223 million guns available to thegeneral public provides a context forevaluating criminal preferences forguns. page 2 By definition, stolen guns are avail-able to criminals. The FBI's NationalCrime Information Center (NCIC)stolen gun file contains over 2 millionreports; 60% are reports of stolenhandguns. page 3 In 1994, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) received over 85,132 requests fromlaw enforcement agencies for traces of guns used in Crime . Over three-quarters of the guns traced by the ATF in 1994 were handguns (mostlypistols), and almost a third were lessthan 3 years old. page 4 Surveys of inmates show that theyprefer concealable, large caliberguns.

4 Juvenile offenders appear tobe more likely to possess guns thanadults. page 5 Studies of the guns used in homi-cides show that large caliber revolv-ers are the most frequent type of gunused in homicides, but the number of large caliber semiautomatic gunsused in murders is increasing. page 5 Little information exists about theuse of assault weapons in Crime . Theinformation that does exist uses vary-ing definitions of assault weapons thatwere developed before the Federal assault weapons ban was enacted. page Department of JusticeOffice of Justice ProgramsJuly 1995, NCJ-148201 Firearms, Crime , and criminal justiceGuns Used in Crime * See note on page are most often the typeof firearm used in Crime According to the Victim Survey(NCVS), 25% of the victims of rapeand sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault in 1993 faced anoffender armed with a handgun.

5 Of allfirearm-related Crime reported to thesurvey, 86% involved handguns. The FBI's Supplemental HomicideReports show that 57% of all murdersin 1993 were committed with hand-guns, 3% with rifles, 5% with shotguns,and 5% with firearms where the typewas unknown. The 1991 Survey of State Prison In-mates found that violent inmates whoused a weapon were more likely to usea handgun than any other weapon;24% of all violent inmates reported thatthey used a handgun. Of all inmates,13% reported carrying a handgunwhen they committed the offense for which they were serving types of guns do criminalsprefer?Research by Wright and Rossi in the1980's found that most criminals preferguns that are easily concealable, largecaliber, and well made.

6 Their studiesalso found that the handguns used bythe felons interviewed were similar tothe handguns available to the generalpublic, except that the criminals pre-ferred larger caliber guns. What types of guns are availablegenerally?The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco andFirearms (ATF) estimates that from1899 to 1993 about 223 million guns became available in the United States,including over 79 million rifles, 77 mil-lion handguns, and 66 million shot-guns. The number of guns seized,destroyed, lost, or not working number of new handguns addedto those available has exceeded thenumber of new shotguns and rifles in recent years. More than half of theguns added in 1993 were Guns Used in CrimeWhat are the different types of firearms?

7 types HandgunA weapon designed to fire a small projectile from one ormore barrels when held in one hand with a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand. RevolverA handgun that contains its ammunition in a revolving cylin-der that typically holds five to nine cartridges, each within aseparate chamber. Before a revolver fires, the cylinder ro-tates, and the next chamber is aligned with the barrel. PistolAny handgun that does not contain its ammunition in a revolving cylinder. Pistols can be manually operated orsemiautomatic. A semiautomatic pistol generally containscartridges in a magazine located in the grip of the the semiautomatic pistol is fired, the spent cartridgethat contained the bullet and propellant is ejected, the firingmechanism is cocked, and a new cartridge is chambered.

8 DerringerA small single- or multiple-shot handgun other than a revolver or semiautomatic pistol. RifleA weapon intended to be fired from the shoulder that usesthe energy of the explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge tofire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for eachsingle pull of the trigger. ShotgunA weapon intended to be fired from the shoulder that usesthe energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to firethrough a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or asingle projectile for each single pull of the action Fully automaticCapability to fire a succession of cartridges so long as thetrigger is depressed or until the ammunition supply is ex-hausted. Automatic weapons are considered machinegunssubject to the provisions of the National Firearms Act.

9 SemiautomaticAn autoloading action that will fire only a single shot foreach single function of a trigger. MachinegunAny weapon that shoots, is designed to shoot, or can bereadily restored to shoot automatically more than one shotwithout manual reloading by a single function of the trigger. SubmachinegunA simple fully automatic weapon that fires a pistol cartridgethat is also referred to as a machine CaliberThe size of the ammunition that a weapon is designed toshoot, as measured by the bullet's approximate diameter in inches in the United States and in millimeters in othercountries. In some instances, ammunition is describedwith additional terms, such as the year of its introduction(.)

10 30/06) or the name of the designer (.30 Newton). In some countries, ammunition is also described in terms of the length of the cartridge case ( x 63 mm). GaugeFor shotguns, the number of spherical balls of pure lead,each exactly fitting the bore, that equals one : ATF, Firearms & Explosives Tracing Guidebook, September 1993, pp. 35-40, and Paul C. Giannelli, "Ballistics Evidence: Firearms Identification," Criminal Law Bulletin, May-June 1991, pp. 40 million handguns have beenproduced in the United States since1973. Since over 80% of the guns availablein the United States are manufacturedhere, gun production is a reasonableindicator of the guns made 1973 to 1993, manufactur-ers produced million.