Fact: Much of this myth comes from the fact that the general availability of high-capacity handguns briefly preceded the rise in the crack cocaine trade, which brought a new kind of violence in local drugs wars.1
Fact: The number of shots fired by criminals has not changed significantly even with the increased capacity of handguns and other firearms. Indeed, the number of shots from revolvers (all within 6-8 round capacity) and semi-automatics were about the same – 2.04 vs. 2.53.2 In a crime or gun battle, there is seldom time or need to shoot more.
Fact: Fatal criminal shootings declined from 4.3% to 3.3% from 1974 through 1995, when the increase in semi-automatics and large capacity handguns were rising at their fastest rate.3 Fatal shootings of police officers declined sharply from 1988 through 1993.4
Fact: Drug dealers tend to be “more deliberate in their efforts to kill their victims by shooting them multiple times”.5
This is an excerpt from “Gun Facts” by Guy Smith, available free from http://www.gunfacts.info
- Gary Kleck, Targeting Guns, 1997. ↩
- Michael McGonigal, John Cole, William Schwab, Donald Kauder, Michael Rotondo, Peter Angood, “Urban firearm deaths: A five-year perspective”, Journal of Trauma, 1993. ↩
- FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1966-1995. ↩
- Marianne Zawitz, “Firearm injury from crime”, 1996, Bureau of Justice Statistics. ↩
- Webster, Champion, Gainer and Sykes, “Epidemiological changes in gunshot wounds in Washington D.C”,Archives of Surgery, 1992. ↩
on Dec 30th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Thanks for good post