NCJ Number
159339
Journal
JAMA Volume: 267 Issue: 22 Dated: (June 10, 1992) Pages: 3073-3074
Date Published
1992
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article recommends and suggests features for a Firearm Fatality Reporting System.
Abstract
Firearm suicides, which outnumber firearm homicides, and unintended gun deaths are not covered by the Uniform Crime Reports. Moreover, approximately 10 percent of homicides in the United States are not included in the Uniform Crime Reports database. For these reasons, a Firearm Fatality Reporting System is needed. One can be patterned after the Fatal Accident Reporting System that is maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and which has reported on all motor vehicle-related fatalities since 1975. As is the case with highway fatalities, gun deaths are routinely investigated by medical examiners or coroners and by police. A good deal of information, therefore, is currently collected at the State and local levels, but this information is not uniform, nor are the medical data reported to a national repository. A Firearm Fatality Reporting System, which might best be located within the Centers for Disease Control could rely on data currently collected at the State and local levels in much the same way as the Firearm Fatality Reporting System. At a minimum, data collected on firearm fatalities should include information on the gun itself, type of death, information on the victim, information on the shooter, information on the circumstances of the shooting, and the involvement of emergency medical services. The creation of such a system should be recognized as a national health priority. 18 notes