NCJ Number
134329
Journal
Social Forces Volume: 69 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1991) Pages: 669-692
Date Published
1991
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Data from the 1979-1985 National Crime Surveys (NCS) and the FBI's 1982 Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) were analyzed to assess the impact of firearms on three types of outcomes of threatening or hostile interactions: whether a threatening situation escalates to an actual physical attack; whether the attack is completed, i.e., results in an injury; and whether the injury inflicted results in death.
Abstract
The net effect of the presence of deadly weaponry in threatening situations was to reduce the probability of attack by the possessors of the weapons. This negative association was significant for handguns, "other" guns, and knives. The apparent effect of the presence of less lethal "other" weapons was to increase the probability of attack. In the case of an attack, the use of guns had a significant net negative association with victim injury, but, in regard to wounding, the wound was more likely to be fatal if inflicted by a gun. The overall net effect of the availability of guns on the probability of the victim's death was very close to zero. 5 tables, 1 appendix, and 45 references