Report Introduction
Safe Streets
Safe Schools
Safe Homes
Safe Workplaces
Recommendations
References
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The Board of Directors of the Michigan Partnership To Prevent Gun Violence (MPPGV) is pleased to present the MPPGV Gun Violence Prevention Policy Recommendations Report 1997. The Partnership was created in October 1995 by professionals in the fields of law, medicine and public health, as a forum for the development and implementation of ongoing collaborative initiatives to reduce the incidence of gun violence in Michigan.
In important first product of the MPPGV was the July 1996 Leadership Survey Report: Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs About Gun Violence Among Public Health, Medical, and Law Professionals. The survey, conducted by the University of Michigan School of Public Health, identified factors within and among the professions that could facilitate collaboration in gun violence prevention. Armed with this information, we embarked on a ten-month interdisciplinary effort to develop the document you are reading now.
Although much of the information in the report - outlining the need for action and the rationale for the recommendations - is grim, we present the report to you with a sense of hopefulness. As we conducted our in-depth research prior to developing the recommendations, we could not fail to notice that in Michigan and across the United States, members of both the Partnership professions and the general public are growing in their awareness of the need and in their determination to stem the loss of life and loss of quality of life attributable to gun violence.
As you review the report, please note the acknowledgments so that you can share our appreciation for the hard work of the many committed professionals who participated in its development. In addition to the 534 people who participated in the leadership survey and the many who formed the core committees wrestling with mountains of information, 21 professional associations had input throughout the development of the document and
PURPOSE
The Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence developed the recommendations contained in the MPPGV Gun Violence Prevention Policy Recommendations Report to guide Partnership members in their future collaborative efforts to reduce and prevent gun violence in our state. We know that the recommendations are a beginning; the hardest work - implementation -- lies before us.
PROCESS
The process by which the report was developed is seen by Partnership members as important to building an effective coalition. The Partnership began and will continue to be a forum through which groups and individuals of diverse perspectives can collaborate to achieve a common goal.
To develop this document, a multidisciplinary approach was taken: A representative from each of the Partnership member professions (law, medicine, and public health) served on each subcommittee and also on the Coordinating Committee (please see the committee lists, under Acknowledgments). Throughout the document's development, group participants conferred frequently with one another and with the entities they represent, to "test out" potential recommendations.
In addition, the impact of gun violence in our homes, schools, workplaces, and streets was carefully researched. Only peer-reviewed findings were eligible for inclusion in this document or to support recommendations. All sources are listed in References.
Last, all recommendations put forward were carefully examined, to ensure that they are congruent with Partnership philosophy and with the Partnership's definition of gun violence.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Build in "do-ability" We believe that the recommendations must be seen as manageable--do-able--by the organizations, individuals, and communities who hope to carry them out. Although more comprehensive recommendations could be made, we believe that Michigan and our local communities have the resources and will to carry out the ones we have made.
Look to a reasonable model for success areas of potential intervention: safety of the product (the firearm in question), the owner/user's knowledge and behavior, and the community's level of tolerance for gun violence and/or determination to prevent it. This methodology is loosely based on the public health model of intervention successfully used to diminish automobile deaths and levels of tobacco use.
Begin with ourselves While it is tempting to begin simply by telling others what should be done, the recommendations in this document are directed largely to the members' own professions -- law, medicine, and public health -- on the theory that our credibility will be proportional to our personal and professional commitment of time, energy, and resources.
Empower communities and families Such empowerment comes primarily from (1) gun owner/users having the knowledge than enables them to understand their responsibility to store/use a firearm without danger to themselves or others, and (2) the populace being free, through employment of reasonable strategies for prevention and protection, of the fear that accompanies community tolerance for gun violence.
Be inclusive We believe that every person in our state deserves to be safe, and every person has a responsibility to help build a safe society. Our recommendations provide an opportunity for every Partnership participant and every community citizen to be part of the effort.
Plan for implementation The MPPGV makes the commitment to put "legs" on our recommendations: We will develop a work plan that reaches out to all communities in Michigan in partnering with others to prevent gun violence.
Evaluate In dealing with any problem, a crucial step in successful intervention is evaluation. During project planning, measurable goals must be identified, and the results of project activities must be measured against them and scrutinized for unintended outcomes (both positive and negative.) The information gained from careful, ongoing evaluation can guide future efforts and enable us to improve our work as we proceed.
The Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence (MPPGV) was established to bring together professionals from law (including law enforcement), medicine, and public health in an effort to facilitate policy formation and implementation of policies to prevent gun violence. Gun violence results from the deliberate misuse of firearms and includes intentional injury and death, psychological and emotional harm, and damage to property and economic well-being. Gun violence also includes unintentional injury and death and psychological, emotional, and economic harm that could have been prevented with reasonable prudent care. Gun violence does not include the safe, lawful use of firearms for organized shooting sports, hunting or target practice, law enforcement, and self-defense.
In 1994 an estimated 39,720 people in the United States died from gun violence, including homicide, suicide, and unintentional injury.(1) In Michigan in the same year, there were 909 murders, of which nearly three-quarters (72.6 percent, or 660) were committed with a firearm;(2) 442 were committed by people aged 15-29. In addition, there were 594 Michigan suicides and 29 accidental deaths by firearm.(3)
Firearm violence occurs in all areas of daily life. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) in 1993 there were nearly 43.6 million criminal victimizations; nearly 1.3 million of those victims faced an offender with a firearm.(4) In 1995 there were 21,597 murders nationally, and in 20,043 of those deaths, supplemental data reveal that firearms were involved in 68.2 percent (13,673) and handguns in 55.9 percent (11,198).(5) Of the 929 murders in Michigan in 1995, 71.3 percent (662) involved the use of a firearm.(6)
While crime rates have remained stable or declined during recent years, violent crimes committed by juveniles have increased.(7,8) Since about 1985, after remaining stable for nearly a decade, the homicide rates for both white and black males aged 14-17 have increased. From 1987 to 1991, the murder rate for white males aged 14-17 rose from 7.6 to 13.6 per 100,000; at the same time, the rate for black males in the same age group surged from 50.4 to 111.8 per 100,000. During the same period, the number of juvenile murders committed with guns doubled, while murders committed without the use of a gun remained nearly the same.(8)
Reflections about the firearm violence rate leads to other areas, including firearm ownership. A Michigan study shows that those who own long guns do so primarily for hunting and target shooting, while people own handguns almost exclusively for protection.(9) Although studies across the country show that owners of handguns possess them primarily for protection, the presence of firearms in the home often creates a risk for family members because the weapons are inappropriately stored or used:(10-13) A loaded or unloaded gun in the home can be reached by a curious child, an angry spouse, or a depressed teenager.(14-16)
Firearms in the household are associated with a higher risk of homicide and suicide. A firearm in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a family member or friend than to be used to kill in self-defense.(17) Women are more than twice as likely to be killed in the home by their husbands or boyfriends than by a stranger using guns or any other weapons combined.(18) In cases of abuse involving family and intimate assaults (FIAs), if firearms are involved there is 12 times the chance of death.(19)
The nation's schools are not immune from violence. Every day an estimated 100,000 or more children take a gun to school, and upwards of 160,000 children stay home because of their fear of guns and violence.(20) The fact that 100,000 children have a gun in school on any given day suggests that firearms are readily available to students. A 1990 Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted nationwide by the Centers for Disease Control found that 20 percent of all students in grades 9-12 carried a weapon to school at least once during the month preceding the survey. Of those students, 20.8 percent reported carrying a firearm, usually a handgun. Almost half of the students in the survey who identified themselves as handgun owners had carried a handgun to school at some time.(21) A six-week study of 11th graders in 5 of Seattle's 10 public high schools revealed that more than a third (34 percent) of the students had easy access to handguns, and a third had fired at someone.(22) These studies clearly indicate that firearm-related violence is a problem for the nation's schools. In Michigan, since the enactment of 1994 Public Act 328, 79 students have been expelled because they carried a firearm to school.(23) Additional information about Michigan students' possession and carrying of guns to school is essentially nonexistent.
Based on 1994 data, each week an average of 18,000 workers are assaulted and 20 are murdered while at work or on duty in the United States. In 1994 there were 1,071 workplace homicides -- 16 percent of the 6,588 fatal work injuries.(24) Workplace violence differs from the country's general crime patterns. For example, 75 percent of all workplace homicides in 1993 were robbery-related; for the general population the figure was 9 percent. From 1980 to 1992, 76 percent of work-related homicides were committed with a firearm.(24)
In 1992 there were 35 work-related deaths in Michigan related to assaults and other violent acts, including 23 homicides by firearms.(25) In 1994 Michigan's 39 workplace homicides comprised more than a third of the workplace murders in the six Great Lake States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Nationally, at the highest risk for murder in the workplace are supervisors/proprietors engaged in retail sales, cashiers, taxicab drivers, hotel/restaurant managers, police officers, and security guards. Eighty-five percent of nonfatal assaults occur in service and retail trade industries.(24) Nationally, violence in the workplace costs employees more than $16 million dollars annually in wages, excluding days covered by sick pay.(26) From 1980 to 1992, homicide was the leading cause of occupational injury death in the State of Michigan.(27)
The Gun Violence Prevention Policy Recommendations Report is possible because of the commitment and generous efforts of many people and groups throughout the state. We endeavor, in this listing, to recognize them and convey our immense gratitude for their energy and expertise. Without their assistance and support, this exciting phase of the Partnership's efforts to prevent gun violence would not have been possible.
COORDINATING COMMITTEE
Jan Christensen, M.S.W., J.D.
Chief, Division of Violence, Injury and Surveillance,
Michigan Department of Community HealthJohn Fath, M.D.
Director of Trauma Surgery, Grace Hospital, Detroit
Michigan Trauma CoalitionSteven C. Gold, M.P.H.
Director, Office of Planning and Evaluation, Wayne County Health DepartmentCarolynne Jarvis, M.S.W.
Executive Director,
Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun ViolenceAndrea Solak
Chief, Special Operations,
Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney's OfficeSAFE WORKPLACES
Jan Christensen, M.S.W., J.D. Chair
Chief, Division of Violence, Injury and Surveillance,
Michigan Department of Community HealthRik Brown
Michigan Trauma CoalitionCaptain Michael G. Cushman
Executive Division,
Michigan State PoliceRobert Domeier, M.D.
Michigan College of Emergency PhysiciansJudith Harper West, M.P.H.
Deputy Director, Detroit Health
DepartmentSAFE HOMES
Andrea Solak, Chair
Chief, Special Operations,
Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney's OfficeFrederick Ilgenfritz, M.D.
Michigan Chapter, American College of Surgeons,
Committee on TraumaThomas Largo, M.P.H.
Epidemiologist, Division of Violence, Injury and Surveillance, Michigan Department of Community HealthSAFE SCHOOLS
Steven C. Gold, M.P.H., Chair
Director, Office of Planning and Evaluation, Wayne County Health DepartmentMark Harlow
Michigan Sheriffs AssociationAnthony J. Roberto, Ph.D.
Researcher, Michigan Public Health InstituteMichael Teasdale
Director of Community Education,
Romulus SchoolsJillian Yancho
Michigan Health and Hospital AssociationRuth Ann Ziegler
Director, Project SAVE
School Health and Substance Abuse Prevention Center for School-Community Outreach,
Wayne County RESASAFE STREETS
John Fath, M.D., Chair
Director of Trauma Surgery,
Grace Hospital
Michigan Trauma CoalitionMargaret Beall, M.P.H.
Kim Eddie, J.D.
Ingham County Prosecutors OfficeAnthony J. Roberto, Ph.D.
Researcher, Michigan Public Health InstituteMichael Thomas, J.D.
Prosecuting Attorneys Association of MichiganBroderick Williams
Commander, 12th Precinct,
Detroit Police DepartmentTHANKS ALSO TO
Garry Goolsby, J.D., who served as project staff, for his many hours of work, meticulous research and cross referencing, and guidance as well as for writing the lion's share of the report.Margaret Beall, MPPGV Interim Director, for recruiting the committee members and establishing the basis of work flow.
Donald Wheeler, Executive Director of the Michigan Trauma Coalition, for sharing his organizational expertise and enthusiasm throughout this project.
Public Sector Consultants, Inc., Lansing, Michigan, for their excellent editing and text design.
K. Grafix, Lansing, Michigan, for designing the striking front and back covers of the original report.
Okemos Printing, Okemos, Michigan, for their fine work on a tight schedule.
The development of the MPPGV Gun Violence Prevention Policy Recommendations Report
as well as the initial organizational activities of the MPPGV were made possible by a grant from the Joyce Foundation
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