NCJ Number
157875
Journal
American Journal of Public Health Volume: 84 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1994) Pages: 561-564
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study examined the use of handguns owned by civilians in the shooting deaths of law enforcement officers between 1980 and 1989.
Abstract
The analysis was based on life tables generated for each year's cohort of new handguns to estimate gun-years at risk, analogous to person-years, for rate and relative risk calculation. Of 735 firearm homicides of police officers during the study period, 435 were committed with 428 civilian-owned handguns. Revolvers were used more often than pistols. For both types of handgun, .22-caliber weapons were least often used in police homicides, while .32-caliber pistols and .38-caliber revolvers were used most often. Forty-six percent of the handguns included in this sample had a barrel length of three inches or less. U.S. firearms manufacturers produced 82 percent of the handguns for which a manufacturer could be identified at all. 1 figure, 1 table, and 24 references