Since the early 1980s, an increasing number of scientific research projects have been completed that explore the risks associated with the presence of firearms in the home. Collectively, the studies provide insight into the problems and C in some instances C offer solutions for reducing the risks associated with firearms in the home.(28)
The number of households owning at least one firearm has dropped from 51 percent in 1977 to 41 percent in 1994.(29-31) In several studies conducted around the country, 27 percent to nearly 72 percent of householders (depending on the study) indicate that they own a firearm for protection.(10-11,13,16,32-37) In one 1994 survey, 11 percent of the respondents reported carrying a firearm for protection; this includes 2 percent who indicated that they always carry a weapon when outside their home.(30) According to a study by Kellermann, et al., although firearms (particularly handguns) are kept in the home for protection, they rarely are used for that purpose.(38)
There is striking disagreement within the literature regarding the number of times firearms are used for defensive purposes. Part of the difficulty is that there is no agreement as to what constitutes the defensive use of a firearm. Using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey for 1987 through 1990, McDowall and Wiersema determined that victims annually used firearms in 0.18 percent of all crimes and 0.83 percent of violent offenses, a mean of 64,615 times per year.(39) In 71,549 of the 258,460 incidents of armed resistance during the time studied, the victim fired his/her weapon. Based on the total number of nonfatal firearm victimizations and the total number of homicides during the time period, gun offenses exceeded protective incidents by more than 10 to 1.(39) On the other hand, Kleck estimates the number of defensive incidents to be anywhere from 12 to 15+ times the rate determined by McDowall and Wiersema.d (40)
In households where firearms are kept for personal protection or other reasons, they often are kept either unlocked, or loaded, or both.(9-13,15,17,32-37,41-42) The presence of unlocked and loaded firearms in the household is associated with unintentional shooting deaths and injuries of children,(32) an increased risk of suicide,(43-44) and homicide.(45) Firearms in the household also place women at risk.(46) From 1976 to 1987, more than twice as many American women were shot and killed by their husbands or boyfriends than were murdered by strangers using guns, knives, or any other means.(46,63) In fact, in cases where the offender was known, murders of women by spouses, intimate acquaintances, or family members exceeded murders by strangers by more than 4 to 1.(46) In cases where there is a firearm in the home, a study by Kellermann, et al. determined that the firearm is 43 times more likely to result in the death of a family member or friend than it is to be used to kill in self-defense.(17)
Unintentional Injuries
Although unintentional firearm deaths constitute a small percentage of all firearm deaths, based on a study of 733 unintentional, nonfatal firearm injuries using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) for 1 June 1992 through 31 May 1994, an estimated 34,485 people (an average of 17,243 annually) were treated in U.S. emergency departments for such injuries during the two-year period. The majority of the patients were male (87 percent) and aged 15-34 years (60.8 percent). There were 2,906 cases involving youth aged 14 and younger (8.4 percent). Males in the 15-19 age group had the highest nonfatal injury rate, 32.3 per 100,000. Most injuries were self-inflicted (69.7 percent), and friends, acquaintances, and relatives accounted for 17.3 percent of the injuries. Nearly one-half of the injuries occurred during routine gun-handling practices such as cleaning, hunting, target shooting, and loading or unloading a gun. Most of the injuries involved a handgun (56.8 percent). It is estimated that 38 percent of unintentional firearm injuries require hospitalization.(47)
In addition to the more than 17,000 unintended, nonfatal injuries estimated by the NEISS study to occur annually, an additional 1,500 people, including more than 500 children and adolescents under the age of 19, die each year in the United States from the unintentional discharge of a firearm.(48) From 1993 to 1995, 83 Michigan residents were killed by the unintentional discharge of a firearm; 41 of the instances involved children and adolescents under the age of 20. Of the 83 unintentional firearm deaths during this period, 75 cases involved males.(3)
Unintentional firearm fatalities occur most often in the home, and children and adolescents are the most likely victims.(32) Several studies suggest that the availability of firearms in the home increases the likelihood of an unintentional shooting.(32-33,49) Children and adolescents are shown to be particularly vulnerable to injury because of their level of maturity and natural curiosity. Studies suggest that environmental risk factors include gun storage patterns and accessibility to loaded weapons.(13,15,17, 32-33,35-36,41-42,47)
Every year in the United States more than 29,000 people kill themselves.(50) Overall, suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in this country.(51) The majority of such incidents occur in the home, and the method of choice usually is a firearm.(50,52) Nationally, the use of firearms to commit suicide has increased while other methods have remained constant;(53) in fact, more people kill themselves with a firearm than by all other methods combined.(50,52) As Exhibit 1 shows, this also is true in Michigan, where from 1989 to 1995 the proportion of suicide by firearm to total suicides has hovered between 56 percent and 59 percent.
As is the case nationally, in Michigan the majority of firearm suicides occur in the home; for example, in 1994, 80.8 percent took place at home. Mirroring national trends, most firearm suicides in Michigan are committed by males, and most C whether by males or females C occur at home.(3)
The 1994 Michigan suicide rate per 100,000 for people aged 15-19 was 10.4 and 1.2 for males and females, respectively; the rate for males and females aged 20-24 was 12.7 and 1.4, respectively.(3) Nationally, suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults.(54) In Michigan, for people aged 15-24, it is also third, following motor vehicle accidents and homicide.(3)
A study by Kellermann, et al. of suicides in Shelby County (Memphis), Tennessee, and King County (Seattle), Washington, suggests that the ready availability of firearms in the home increases the risk of suicide. The study also finds that homes in which guns are kept unlocked and/or loaded are even more likely to be the scene of a suicide than homes in which firearms are safely stored. Most homes where suicides were committed had had firearms in the home for months or years. Of the 803 suicides studied, 70 percent occurred in the home, and 58 percent were committed with a firearm.(43) The percentage of suicides by firearm in the study essentially mirrors the rate of suicides committed by firearm in Michigan from 1989 to 1995.(3)
A case-control study by Brent, et al. finds that firearm availability in the home appears to increase the risk of suicide for adolescents. Based on the study, suicide completers are more likely to have a firearm in their home than a comparable group of psychiatric inpatients.(44) The authors suggest that removing firearms from the household, particularly those in which a psychiatrically troubled adolescent lives, may prevent suicides.(44) Others argue, however, that if firearm access is limited, individuals wanting to commit suicide simply will turn to other methods.(55) With adolescent and young-adult suicides, method substitution may not occur, perhaps because of the role that impulse and substance abuse play in youthful suicide.(56-58) Brent, et al. suggest that the availability of firearms to adolescents may play a more critical role in determining the lethality of a suicide attempt than gun-storage practices.(44)
A study by Wintemute, et al. suggests that handguns are the weapon of choice in suicides, at least in those cases where handguns are the prevalent gun in the household.(59)
Domestic violence has been identified as a national problem, and it has a disparate impact on women.(60) Although there is some disagreement about the definition of domestic violence, for the purposes of this report we define it as the use of physical force among adults involved in an intimate relationship, i.e., spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend. These relationships are distinguished from those with other relatives (parent, child, sibling, in-law, and so on) and acquaintances (a friend or someone known).(60)
Using figures from the redesigned National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), in 1992 and 1993 women aged 12 and older were the victims of almost five million violent victimizations in each of those years.(61) Nearly 75 percent of all lone-offender violence against women and 45 percent of violence involving multiple offenders was perpetrated by offenders whom the female victim knew. In 29 percent of all cases involving violence against women by a lone offender, the perpetrator was an intimate, i.e., husband, ex-husband, boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend.
In 1992 weapons were involved in 18 percent of the cases involving an intimate; 22 percent involving another relative, and 21 percent of the cases involving an acquaintance/friend.(60) A stranger was likely to have a weapon in 33 percent of the cases, but women were more likely to be injured in cases involving an intimate (52 percent), another relative (38 percent), or acquaintance/friend (26 percent) with a weapon than those involving a stranger (20 percent). In cases in which weapons were present, 34 percent involved guns.(60) Although strangers were more likely to have a firearm than the other types of offenders, according to the FBI's 1992 Supplemental Homicide Reports, 62 percent of the murder victims known to have been killed by intimates were shot. In 1992 an estimated 1,432 females were murdered by intimates, representing 70 percent of intimate murder cases and a little more than 6 percent of all murders.(60)
During fiscal year 1993, women in domestic violence shelters sponsored by the State of Michigan provided the following pertinent information about the nature of the assaults sustained from partners:
Although men are twice as likely as women to be victims of handgun violence, domestic violence victims are six times more likely to be women than men.(60) The risk is even higher where there is a prior history of domestic violence.(45) A firearm in the hands of a batterer is a potent force for gaining and maintaining power. Firearms can be used to intimidate and frighten and ultimately, to kill. From 1976 to 1987, more than twice as many American women were shot and killed by their husbands or boyfriends than were murdered by strangers using guns, knives, or any other means.(46,63)
As early as 1864, Smith and Wesson manufactured a gun that could not be fired by a child. Nicknamed the "lemon squeezer" because of the way it was fired, the gun was manufactured until the 1930s.(64) Although studies currently are being conducted regarding the design of firearms, including modifications to personalize firearms to the owner, such as push-button locking mechanisms and a magnetic trigger that does not fire unless the operator is wearing a ring that contains a magnetic chip that unlocks the firing mechanism, such designs are not commercially available. On September 18, 1996, Sandia National Laboratories released its report on research related to "smart guns" for law enforcement officers. The most promising technologies, according to the study, are voice recognition, fingerprint identification, touch memory, passive radio frequency, and remote radio frequency.(65) On the same day that this research was released, Colt Manufacturing introduced a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol activated only on cue by a pea-sized radio transmitter.(65)
Given the number of people who own firearms for protection and the number who leave their firearms unlocked, loaded, or both, personalizing firearms to the owner may be the most effective way to reduce the risk of household accidents while still leaving the firearms available for self-defense. That issue and others must be addressed in an overall analysis of firearm intervention strategies. Although the MPPGV believes that these and other technologies should be explored, the infancy of the research makes it premature to make any recommendation at this time.
Another area that needs special study is the effect of violence in the media, particularly television and movies, on young people. The MPPGV does not make any specific recommendations in this regard, because the portrayal of violence, particularly gun violence, in the media is an issue that must be addressed at the national level. Studies show that the depiction of gun violence on television seldom depicts the pain of the victim, the victim's family, or friends. Moreover, the person who uses the gun rarely is shown to suffer any repercussions.(66)