NCJ Number
103354
Journal
Journal of Public Health Policy Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1980) Pages: 224-229
Date Published
1980
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article reviews recent statistics on firearms deaths and injuries and current gun control legislation, followed by recommendations for additional legislation to help curb firearms deaths and injuries.
Abstract
In 1977, firearms caused 32,000 deaths, with 2,000 being accidents; 13,000, homicide; 16,000, suicide; 250, legal intervention; and 900, undetermined. Estimates of the number of nonfatal injuries by firearms range as high as 100,000 annually in the United States. Gun control legislation pertains to manufacture or importation, sale or transfer, possession, and gun use. Legal regulation becomes progressively more stringent from gun manufacture to gun use. A more thoughtful and appropriate regulation of firearms at the manufacturing stage, including regulation of both the quantity manufactured and gun design, rather than regulation focusing on possession and use, would decrease firearm injuries and deaths. Handgun bullets which are less likely to wound have been developed for police use in crowd control. These could be used for target practice and all other purposes where killing is not the objective. Occupational safety standards for groups at risk of being shot at work -- police, security guards, and cashiers -- should include requirements for bulletproof garments, barriers, or other safeguards. 19 references.