Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995 13:09:17 -0700
From: ffssnra@netcom.com (Peter Nesbitt)
Subject: Offenders with Handguns
Apparently-To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com


Subject: Offenders with Handguns

Offenders with Handguns
 
 
        Each year an estimated 639,000 U.S. residents face an offender
with a handgun, the Bureau of Justice Statistics announced today.  The
Bureau, a component of the Office of Justice Programs, said this
includes an average of 9,200 people murdered with handguns and 15,000
wounded by them.  In addition, approximately 76,000 victims are
injured in other ways every year by handgun-armed offenders.  About
one in 32 urban black males from 16 through 24 years old is a handgun
victim every year.
 
        The estimates are based on National Crime Survey data from the
years 1979 through 1987, which also found that in 12 percent of the
non-fatal handgun crimes the guns were fired.  The Survey interviews
people in approximately 50,000 households twice per year about their
exposure to crime.  Two percent of the victims in non-fatal handgun
crimes were shot and wounded.  Other findings from the study of
handgun attacks include the following:
 
        --About 44 percent of all people murdered during the 1979-1987
period were killed by handguns.
 
        --Seven percent of all the rapes, 18 percent of all the
robberies and 22 percent of all the aggravated assaults committed
during the nine-year period involved criminals armed with handguns.
 
        --Criminals armed with handguns committed 10 percent of all
the violent crimes that occurred during the period.  They also
commmitted 27 percent of all the violent crimes by offenders wielding
any weapon--a knife, a rifle, a stick, a rock or any other object.
 
        --Victims of handgun crimes were less likely to have been
injured than were violent crime victims who were confronted by
assailants not armed with handguns--15 percent of handgun crime
victims were injured, compared to 31 percent of other violent crime
victims.  If injured, however, handgun crime victims were more likely
to have suffered serious injuries than were other violent crime
victims.
 
        --Approximately 21 percent of all people wounded by handguns
were hospitalized for three weeks or longer.
 
        --Of all murders and non-negligent manslaughters committed by
offenders armed with handguns for which the motives were known, 25
percent were committed during another crime--usually a robbery--and 51
percent were committed primarily during arguments or fights.
 
        --People from 16 to 24 years old were confronted by offenders
with handguns more than were other age groups (seven such incidents
per 1,000 persons annually).  The next highest group consisted of
people from 25 to 34 years old (almost five such crimes per 1,000
persons annually).
 
        The report also noted that young black males were victims of
handgun crimes at a rate about seven times higher than the population
as a whole.  Urban black males from 16 to 24 years old were confronted
by handgun-armed offenders at the rate of 32 such offenses per 1,000
persons annually.  Young suburban black males were victims of such
crimes at a rate of 18 per 1,000 persons annually.  Urban and suburban
white males from 16 through 24 years old had rates of 14 and 8 per
1,000 inhabitants, respectively.
 
        Handgun crimes made up about 22 percent of all violent crimes
committed against black men and about 13 percent of all such crimes
against black women.  This compares to 9 percent for white males and 7
percent for white females.
 
        Victims reported that a stranger committed the handgun crime
in more than 72 percent of the incidents, an acquaintance did it in
about 17 percent and a relative in about 5 percent.
 
        Almost 42 percent of handgun crimes occurred on the street.
However, about two-thirds of those involving relatives occurred in the
victim's home.
 
        Sixty-nine percent of the handgun crimes were reported to law
enforcement officials, compared to 46 percent of other violent crimes.
 
        Single copies of the special report, "Handgun Crime Victims"
(NCJ-123559), and other Bureau of Justice Statistics publications and
data may be obtained from the National Criminal Justice Reference
Service, Box 6000, Rockville, Maryland 20850.  The telephone number is
1-301-251-5000.  The toll-free number from places other than Maryland
and metroplolitan Washington, D.C., is 1-800-732-3277.