NCJ Number
167874
Journal
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (1997) Pages: 463-469
Editor(s)
J Weiss
Date Published
1997
Length
12 pages
Annotation
These two journal articles analyze statistics on the uses of guns for defensive purposes and summarize a symposium regarding youth, guns, and public policy.
Abstract
The article on defensive gun use questions statistics stating that 2.5 million people use a gun defensively against a criminal attacker in the United States each year. The analysis focuses on reasons why this number is a mythical number and concludes that estimates for the number of defensive gun uses are likely to be substantially overstated due to the problem of false positives. The authors' own analyses led to their conclusion that more guns may lead to more defensive gun uses but not necessarily to safer streets and homes. The symposium discussed in the second article took place in September 1995. It brought researchers and policy analysts together to focus on the reasons for the rapid increases in rates of homicide commission and homicide victimization among youths ages 18-24 between 1984 and 1991. Themes that emerged during the conference included the need for strategy mixes to address youth violence that are different from those to address adult violence, the role of guns in making youth violence more lethal, the rapid increase in gun carrying, the need to evaluate law enforcement innovations to reduce guns. Footnotes and 23 references