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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: cheimets@cfa.harvard.edu (Peter Cheimets)
Subject: Handgun Crime, [was Re: Fireworks in the USA]
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 17:43:18 GMT

PC: I surfed over to the US Dept of Justice gopher and got the following PC: statistics on crime and fire arms.

In 1992 offenders armed with handguns committed a record 931,000 violent crimes. Handgun crimes accounted for about 13% of all violent crimes.

On average in 1987-92 about 83,000 crime victims per year used a firearm to defend themselves or their property. Three-fourths of the victims who used a firearm for defense did so during a violent crime; a fourth, during a theft,[and] household burglary.

PC: So there are more than 10X as many handgun crime than defenses. Yet the PC: criminal is less likely to use his gun than the person defending PC: himself (see below).

*Offenders fired their weapon in 17% of all nonfatal handgun crimes (or about 2% of all violent crimes). In 3% of all handgun crimes, the victim was wounded. The offender shot at but missed the victim in 14% of all handgun crimes.

Self-defense with firearms

*38% of the victims defending themselves with a firearm attacked the offender, and the others threatened the offender with the weapon.

*A fifth of the victims defending themselves with a firearm suffered an injury, compared to almost half of those who defended themselves with weapons other than a firearm or who had no weapon. Care should be used in interpreting these data because many a

About three-fourths of the victims who used firearms for self-defense did so during a crime of violence.

                                                Average annual number of
                                                     victimizations
                                             in which victims used firearms to
                                                         defend
                                             themselves or their property
                                   __________________________________________
 
                                                  Attacked         Threatened
                                     Total        offender         offender
                                   __________________________________________ 
       All crimes                    82,500        30,600           51,900

Total violent crime                  62,200        25,500           36,700

   With injury                       12,100         7,300            4,900
   Without injury                    50,000        18,200           31,800

Theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft 20,300         5,100           15,200

Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Includes victimizations in which offenders were unarmed. Excludes homicides.

*In most cases victims who used firearms to defend themselves or their property were confronted by offenders who were either unarmed or armed with weapons other than firearms. On average between 1987 and 1992, about 35% (or 22,000 per year) of the violent [interaction involved police]. Questionnaire revisions introduced in January 1993 will permit separate consideration of police and civilian firearm cases.)

Offenders shot at victims in 17% of handgun crimes, 1987-92

                             Percent
                             _______

Shot at victim                 16.6%
Hit victim                      3.0
Missed victim                  13.6
Nongunshot injury               1.6
No physical injury             12.0

Did not shoot at victim        83.4%
Other attack/attempt           19.9
Verbal threat of attack        15.4
Weapon present                 46.8
Other threat                     .8
Unknown action                   .5

    Average annual number      699,900

Note: Excludes homicides.

PC:Below is excerpted from a report of crimes against woman. It seems to PC:support the common view that woman are most likely to be a victim of someone PC:they know....

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A study of violence against women shows that two-thirds of these attacks were committed by someone the victim knew--such as a husband, boyfriend, other family member or acquaintance--a much higher figure than for men.

The survey, conducted by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, found approximately 2.5 million of the nation's 107 million females 12 years old and older were raped, robbed or assaulted in a typical year, or were the victim of a threat or an attempt to commit such a crime. Twenty-eight percent of the offenders were intimates, such as husbands or boyfriends, and another 39 percent were acquaintances or relatives.

"The number of women attacked by spouses, former spouses, boyfriends, parents or children is more than 10 times higher than the number of males attacked by such people," said Acting Bureau Director Lawrence A. Greenfeld.

PC: I couldn't find anything on the likelihood of being the victim of your own handgun.