Draft: Hostage Takers and Their Weapons: An Empirical Study of Aircraft Hijackers

• NCJ Number: 139203
• Author(s): R A Bell; T H Worley; T B Feldmann; F J Lanceley; J J Stephenson; C R Lewis; W Cheek
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): 87-IJ-CX-0037
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/NCJRS; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data on all 447 aircraft hijackers who were involved in 308 incidents committed on air carriers registered in the United States between 1961 and 1990 were used to determine the weapons used by these hijackers.

Abstract

The FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration provided the study information. Results revealed that handguns were the most commonly used weapon. Guns included semiautomatic pistols, revolvers, BB guns, and starter pistols. Thirty-eight caliber revolvers were the most popular handgun used. Other weapons included bombs, incendiary weapons, knives, and automatic weapons. Most weapons were real rather than alleged or fake. The use of metal detectors starting in 1972 resulted in a significant shift away from guns and knives and toward bombs and incendiary devices, with the frequency of alleged and fake weapons increasing. When handguns were used the hijacker was successful in circumventing security by hijacking private aircraft from smaller airports where screening and other security measures were not in effect. Results also suggested that law enforcement personnel should assume that a weapon is real until proven otherwise. Figures and 31 references