Why the lack in public funded research?
In 1996, the National Rifle Association (NRA) effectively banned the government (specifically the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)) from conducting any research. How did they do this? Their lobbying campaign resulted in two congressional actions: 1) The passing of the Dickey Amendment (Source 1) and 2) the CDC budget cut that happened the same year. The CDC budget for research of firearm injury's was cut in half from $2.5 million to $1.1 million between 1996 and 1997. In 2012, the CDC budget for this research was just $102,997 (Source 2).
With that said there is still a lot of quantifiable information collected and analyzed by many government and non-government agency's to include the CDC.
With that said there is still a lot of quantifiable information collected and analyzed by many government and non-government agency's to include the CDC.
2003 cdc sTUDY
The most recent study the CDC completed was done in 2003. Much of the raw data relied on was collected between the years of 1990 and 2000. This is the result of the 1996 Dickey Amendment which effectively withheld funds from the CDC to research gun related injuries (SOURCE 3).
The analysis of this data found the following facts of gun related violence:
The purpose of the study was to analyse the effectiveness of firearms laws. The report concluded “[e]vidence was insufficient to determine the effectiveness of any of these laws…”
The analysis of this data found the following facts of gun related violence:
- 79 gun related deaths per day in 2000
- 16,586 (57.9%) were suicides
- 10,801 (37.7%) were homicides
- 776 (2.7%) were unintentional
- 500 (1.7%) were legal interventions or of undetermined intent
- Approximately 4.5 million new firearms are sold each year in the United States, including 2 million handguns.
- An estimated 0.5 million firearms are stolen annually.
- The total number of firearms transactions (when a firearm changes ownership) could be as high as 9.5 million per year.
- In 1994, 34.0% kept their guns loaded and unlocked.
The purpose of the study was to analyse the effectiveness of firearms laws. The report concluded “[e]vidence was insufficient to determine the effectiveness of any of these laws…”
oTHER CDC STATISTICS
- Top three states with the highest firearm death rate in 2016 (Source 10):
- Alaska (23.3)
- Alabama (21.5)
- Louisiana (21.3)
- Top three states with the lowest firearm death rate in 2016 (Source 10):
- Massachusetts
- Road Island
- New York
- Massachusetts
- In 2015, 36,252 persons died from injury by firearms in the United States. (Source 11)
- In 1999, 10.3 in every 100,000 people died from guns. In 2015, 11.3 in every 100,000 people died from guns. (Source 11)
FBI STATISTICS
The FBI published the following statistics in a 2015 report (SOURCE 4):
- Of 13,455 murders with a total of 9,616 firearms
- 624 were hands, fists, feet, etc.
- 1,671 were other types of weapons
- 2,648 were unknown types
- 269 were Shotguns
- 252 were rifles
- 6,447 were handgun
- Firearms were used in 71.5 percent of the nation’s murders
- 50 incidents in 21 states (1 shooter per incident)
- Texas had the most (6 incidents)
- Florida and California came in second (5 incidents)
- Texas had the most (6 incidents)
- 943 casualties
- 20 met "mass killing" definition
- 3 shooters wore body armor
- 13 shooters committed suicide
- 8 shooters were stopped by citizens (4 armed and 4 unarmed)
2013 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE REPORT
In 2013 the NIJ published the following statistics based on data from 1993 to 2011 (SOURCE 5):
- The firearm crime rate dropped from 7.3 in 1993 to 1.8 in 2011.
2017 PEW RESEARCH CENTER STUDY
- Approximately 30% of American's own a gun and 11% say they don't own a gun but live with someone who does. (Source 6)
- 67% of gun owners say personal protection is their primary reason for owning a gun. (Source 6)
- Two-thirds of gun owners own more than one gun. (Source 6)
- 29% say they own 5 or more guns. (Source 6)
- Pistols are the most common while rifle comes in second and shotguns come in last. (Source 6)
- Gun ownership is most common among whites/males/republicans. (Source 6)
- About half (49%) of people who have never owned a gun see themselves owning a gun in the future. (Source 6)
- About half (48%) of adults of say they up in a gun-owning household. (Source 6)
- 61% of Americans say their community views gun owners in a positive way. (Source 6)
- One-in-five gun owners are members of the NRA. (Source 9)
BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS
- Since the inception of the Brady Act, over 118 million applications for firearm transfers or permits were subject to background checks. About 2.1 million applications, or 1.8%, were denied. (Source 7)
- In 2010, 1.5% of the 10.4 million applications for firearm transfers or permits were denied by the FBI (approximately 73,000) or by state and local agencies (approximately 80,000). (Source 7)
- Among the 21 state agencies that reported reasons for denial, a felony conviction or indictment was the most common reason to deny an application in 2010 (31%). A state law prohibition (16%) was the second most common reason (excluding other prohibitions). (Source 7)
- Between 1980 and 2008, the majority of victims (59.7%) of gun homicides were 18 to 34 years old. During the same years the majority of offenders (65.9%) were also 18 to 34 years old. (Source 12)
sources
- Public Law 104-208: Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997 (110 Stat. 3009; Date: 9/30/96; enacted H.R. 3610). Text from: Government Publishing Office. Retrieved from www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-104publ208/pdf/PLAW-104publ208.pdf
- Mayors Against Illegal Guns. (January 2013). How the Gun Lobby is Depriving Police, Policy Makers, and the Public of the Data we Need to Prevent Gun Violence. Retrieved from libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/9/c1/6/1017/3/access_denied.pdf.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (October 3, 2003). First Reports Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Firearms Laws. Retreived from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5214a2.htm.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation: Uniforam Crime Reporting. (2016). 2016 Crime in the United States. Retrieved from https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/cius-2016
- National Institute of Justice. (March 13, 2018). Gun Violence. Retreived from https://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/gun-violence/pages/welcome.aspx
- Pew Research Center. (June 22, 2017). America’s Complex Relationship With Guns: An in-depth look at the attitudes and experiences of U.S. adults. Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics. (February 12, 2013). Background Checks For Firearm Transfers, 2010 - Statistical Tables. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4596.
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. (n.d.). Data & Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.atf.gov/resource-center/data-statistics
- Pew Research Center. (June 22, 2017). America's Complex Relationship with Guns. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (January 10, 2018). Firearm Mortality by State. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (November 27, 2017). National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 66, No. 6. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_06.pdf.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics. (November 2011). Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008: Annual Rates for 2009 and 2010. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf#page=27.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. (April 2018). Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2016 and 2017. Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-incidents-us-2016-2017.pdf/view.