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Firearms Ownership, Concealed Carrying, and Self-Defense Use
Key Statistics: Neither women nor men are more likely to own either a long gun or a handgun now than they were in 1980. On average, between 1980 and 1994, 48.7 percent of men owned firearms and only 11.6 percent of women owned firearms. During that same time period, handgun ownership among men averaged 27 percent and among women seven percent. Gun ownership is higher among married women living outside large cities, and it is associated more with hunting than with either fear of crime or past victimization.
This article examines what pro-gun groups and the mass media report about the ownership of firearms by women, the reliability of the figures used by pro-gun groups and the mass media, and the best available information on how the ownership of firearms by women has changed since 1980. This article concludes that pro-gun groups and the media have exaggerated the rate of gun ownership among women.
Key Statistic: In a survey of 800 gun owners, more than 20 percent reported keeping a firearm both loaded and unlocked in the home. Factors associated with an increased likelihood of storing guns loaded and unlocked included owning a gun for protection, owning a handgun, and having received firearms training.
This study determines the extent of firearms training among gun owners, how gun owners store their weapons, and the relationship between gun training and gun storage.
Key Statistics: In 1994, 44 million Americans owned 192 million firearms, 65 million of which were handguns. Although there were enough guns to have provided every U.S. adult with one, only 25 percent of adults actually owned firearms; 74 percent of gun owners possessed two or more. Thirty percent of all handgun owners had an unlocked, loaded handgun in the house at the time of the survey.
This study presents the results of a 1994 telephone survey on private ownership and use of firearms by American adults. The survey provides the most complete data available on the private stock of firearms in the United States.
This publication is free. Call the National Criminal Justice Reference Services (NCJRS) at 1-800-732-3277. Ask to be placed on the NCJRS mailing list for information about all of their publications.
Key Statistic: Between October 1987 and July 1995 a total of 469 individuals were identified as having committed a wide variety of crimes�including assault with intent to murder, kidnapping/attempted kidnapping, and shooting with intent to wound�either before obtaining the Florida concealed carry license or after licensure.
This study is an in-depth analysis of how Florida's shall-issue concealed weapons law actually functions and concludes that Florida's concealed weapons law puts guns into the hands of criminals.
This publication is $10.00, including shipping and handling. Call the Violence Policy Center (VPC) at (202) 822-8200 or write to the VPC at 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 825, Washington, DC 20036. A copy of the VPC publications list will be included upon request. Follow this link to view the study's Executive Summary.
Key Statistics: The rate at which Florida's concealed weapons law is arming criminals is increasing. In the year-long period surveyed (1995 to 1996), an additional 149 individuals were found to have had their licenses revoked for crimes committed either before or after their concealed weapons license was issued. This represents a one-year jump of nearly 30 percent over the previous seven-year total. Of those who committed a crime after having received their concealed weapons license, one in five committed their crime with a gun.
This study builds upon the previous VPC study, Concealed Carry: The Criminal's Companion, by analyzing licenses revoked by the Florida Division of Licensing for the period May 31, 1995 to May 31, 1996.
This publication is $8.00, including shipping and handling. Call the Violence Policy Center (VPC) at (202) 822-8200 or write to the VPC at 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 825, Washington, DC 20036. A copy of the VPC publications list will be included upon request. Follow this link to view Concealing the Risk: Real-World Effects of Lax Concealed Weapons Laws.
Key Statistics: From January 1, 1996 to October 9, 1997 Texas concealed handgun license holders were arrested for 946 crimes. Of these, 263 were felony arrests, including: six charges of murder or attempted murder involving at least four deaths; two charges of kidnapping; 18 charges of sexual assault; 66 charges of assault, including 48 cases of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; and, 42 weapon-related charges. Six-hundred eighty-three were misdemeanor arrests, including: 194 weapon-related charges and 215 instances of driving while intoxicated. In the first six months of 1997 (the most recent complete data set available), the weapon-related arrest rate among Texas concealed handgun license holders was more than twice as high as that of the general population of Texas aged 21 and older.
In the two years since Texas' "shall-issue" law went into effect, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has received more than 940 arrest reports involving concealed handgun license holders. In October 1997, the Violence Policy Center received a list of arrest incidents involving Texas' concealed handgun license holders from DPS in Austin, Texas. These records list all felony, misdemeanor, and miscellaneous incidents involving concealed handgun license holders between January 1, 1996 and October 9, 1997. License to Kill includes several anecdotes of arrest incidents as well as charts that list arrest incidents by offense type.
This publication is $5.00, including shipping and handling. Call the Violence Policy Center (VPC) at (202) 822-8200 or write to the VPC at 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 825, Washington, DC 20036. A copy of the VPC publications list will be included upon request. Follow this link to view materials from License to Kill: Arrests Involving Texas Concealed Handgun License Holders.
Key Statistics: On average per year, only one percent of actual or attempted victims of violent crime (62,200) use a firearm in an attempt to defend themselves. Another 20,300 use a firearm in an attempt to defend their property during a theft, household burglary, or motor vehicle theft. Conversely, victims report an annual average of about 341,000 incidents of firearm theft. In 1992 offenders armed with handguns committed a record 931,000 violent crimes.
This publication is free. Call the National Criminal Justice Reference Services (NCJRS) at 1-800-732-3277. Ask to be placed on the NCJRS mailing list for information about all of their publications.
This paper analyzes survey methodology by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, who estimate that civilians use guns in self-defense against offenders up to 2.5 million times each year. This estimate is based on a survey of civilian defensive gun use in 1992 and has been repeatedly by the NRA and gun advocates. This paper concludes that the Kleck and Gertz survey design contains a huge overestimation bias and that their estimate is highly exaggerated.
This paper illustrates the overestimation problem found in Kleck and Gertz's methodology by applying it to a 1994 ABC News/ Washington Post survey of 1500 adults of which 10 percent answered affirmatively as to whether they had ever seen an alien spacecraft. Of these, six percent stated they had come into contact with a space alien. If extrapolated to the national population using Kleck and Gertz's methodology, this would translate into almost 20 million Americans who had seen a spacecraft from another planet and more than a million who had actually met space aliens.
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