Firearm Use, Injury, and Lethality in Assaultive Violence: An Examination of Ethnic Differences

• NCJ Number: 209640
• Journal: Homicide Studies Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2005 Pages: 83-108
• Author(s): Amie L. Nielsen; Ramiro Martinez Jr.; Richard Rosenfeld
• Date Published: 2005
• Length: 26 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Consortium on Violence Research (NCOVR)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the ethnic differences in firearm use, injury, and lethality in assaultive violence (homicide and aggravated assault) in the multiethnic city of Miami.

Abstract

Previous research on firearm violence shows that Blacks are generally more likely than Whites and Latinos to carry and use guns, to face assailants armed with guns, and to be fatally wounded in firearm violence; and second, where data are available for comparison, Latinos typically are situated between Whites and Blacks in firearm possession, use, and injury. These results are not consistent across studies, and little evidence is available about the extent to which race and ethnic differences are attributable to differential gun use in violent incidents compared with other factors. This study extends this research by examining assaultive violence data from Miami for 145 homicide incidents occurring in 1996 and 1997, comparing Latinos relative to non-Latino Blacks and non-Latino Whites. Two dependent variables were examined: extent of injury and gun use in the incident; and four types of independent variables were examined: incident characteristics, victim characteristics, offender characteristics, and interaction terms created for offender ethnicity and weapon use. Results of logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses indicate that firearm use has large and similar effects on event lethality for Latino and non-Latino Black offenders but no significant effect for non-Latino Whites. In addition, Latino, Black, and White attackers were equally likely to use a gun in violent encounters. Finally, no significant differences were found across the three groups in either extent of injury to the victim or the likelihood of facing an armed offender; however, incidents involving members of the same ethnic group were more likely than interethnic incidents to result in the victim’s death. Implications of these ethnic patterns in terms of prevailing conceptions of firearm violence are discussed. Notes, references, tables