Promising Strategies To Reduce Gun Violence - Office of Juvenile ...

Figure 4. Firearm and Nonfirearm Homicide Deaths for Ages 15–24 and 25 and Above
Rate per 100,000 Population
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Firearm Homicide Deaths, Ages 15–24
Firearm Homicide Deaths, Ages 25 and Above
Nonfirearm Homicide Deaths, All Ages
80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96
Sources: National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Bureau of the Census.
illegal activities. Among arrestees overall, 23 percent
of those who owned a gun said they had used one to
commit a crime. Among juvenile drug sellers who
owned a firearm, 42 percent reported using a gun in a
crime; among gang members, 50 percent reported
using a gun.
Although no national data base contains detailed
information about all the guns used in crimes, police
records and surveys of offenders provide some insights
on the types of firearms used in criminal
offenses. In 1994, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms received more than 85,000 requests
from police departments for traces of guns used in
crime. 13 More than three-fourths of the guns traced
were handguns, and almost one-third were less than
3 years old. In 1994, the most frequent types of guns
used in homicides were large caliber revolvers, but
the number of large caliber semiautomatic guns is
increasing. 14
In an early survey of incarcerated felons, 32 percent
reported that they had acquired their most recent
handgun by theft. 15 A more recent survey reported
that guns had been stolen by 13 percent of all
arrestees, 25 percent of all juvenile arrestees, 29
percent of the gang members, and 30 percent of the
drug sellers. 16
Copyright © TSM / Robert Essel, 1998.
Section I: Gun Violence in the United States 5