Press Releases

For Release:  Tuesday, January 26, 2009 State’s Black Homicide Victimization Rate of 36.36 Per 100,000 is Nearly Seven Times National Overall Homicide Rate of 5.30 per 100,000 Washington, DC–Pennsylvania leads the nation in the rate of black homicide victimization according to a new analysis of unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC). The annual study, “Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An…

For Release: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 Drug Traffickers Are Already Using These “Vest-Busters” to Kill Police in Mexico Washington, DC—Powerful new handguns called “big boomers” by the gun industry are a growing threat to the nation’s law enforcement officers, a new 36-page study released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) reveals. (See https://vpc.org/studies/bigboomers.pdf for a copy of the study, see https://vpc.org/studies/boomerskeyfindings.pdf for a summary presenting the key findings of the study.) Body armor used by…

For Release: Thursday, September 25, 2008 WASHINGTON, DC–For the second year in a row, Nevada, with a rate of 3.27 per 100,000, ranked first in the nation in the rate of women killed by men according to the Violence Policy Center (VPC) report When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2006 Homicide Data. The annual VPC report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The study…

For Release: Thursday, September 25, 2008 WASHINGTON, DC–Black women murdered by men are most often killed with a gun, almost always by someone they know, according to new the Violence Policy Center (VPC) report When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2006 Homicide Data. The annual VPC report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The study uses the most recent data available from the Federal…

For Release: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 Washington, DC—The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a National Rifle Association-backed bill sponsored by Representative Travis Childers (D-MS) that would virtually wipe out any regulation of guns by the District of Columbia, endangering citizens, visitors, and public officials while adversely impacting the ability of law enforcement to stop crime and prevent terrorism. The NRA bill was offered as a substitute to legislation (H.R. 6842) proposed by Delegate Eleanor Holmes…

For Release: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Washington, DC—The U.S. House of Representatives is expected today to consider legislation that will govern how the District of Columbia implements its gun laws. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has proposed legislation (H.R. 6842) that instructs the District to implement a firearms law that complies with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in District of Columbia v. Heller “in a manner that protects the security interests of the Federal government…

For Release: Thursday, June 26, 2008 Supreme Court Ruling Overturning DC Handgun Ban Should Allow Ban on Semiautomatic Handguns to Stand Washington, DC–Following today’s 5-4 Supreme Court opinion authored by 2007 Sport Shooting Ambassador Award winner Antonin Scalia (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/sport-shooting-ambassador_b_109367.html for more info) overturning Washington, DC’s handgun ban, but apparently allowing for the retention of the law’s ban on most semiautomatic weapons, including semiautomatic handguns (see background information after statement), Violence Policy Center (VPC) Legislative Director…

For Release: Thursday, April 24, 2008 Violence Policy Center Analysis of New Data Reveals: Louisiana, Alaska, Montana, Tennessee, and Alabama Top List of Deadliest States in the Nation Blind Allegiance to the Second Amendment Takes Deadly Toll Washington, DC—States in the South and West with weak gun laws and high rates of gun ownership lead the nation in overall firearm death rates according to a new analysis issued today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) of…

For Release:  Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Third Edition of Violence Policy Center Study “American Roulette” Estimates That Nine Murder-Suicides Occur Each Week in U.S., Vast Majority with Guns WASHINGTON, DC–At least 554 Americans died in murder-suicides during the first six months of 2007 with the vast majority (88.5 percent) involving a firearm, according to the third edition of the Violence Policy Center’s (VPC) study American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States. Using these figures, the VPC…

For Release: Thursday, April 3, 2008 Suspected Rifles May Include ‘Youth’ Rifles for Children Washington, DC—According to an “Urgent Notice” for gun dealers issued by firearms distributor Sports South, Inc., Brooklyn rifle manufacturer Henry Repeating Arms may have shipped rifles for sale loaded with ammunition. The warning was posted on the distributor’s web site (http://www.sportssouthinc.com) up until Wednesday, April 2, and stated: “URGENT ATTENTION REQUIRED!!!! We have been notified by Henry Repeating Arms that some rifles…

For Release:  Monday, March 17, 2008 District’s Law Necessary to Protect DC Residents, First Responders Violence Policy Center Warns  Washington, DC—Just two days after a new Washington Post national poll found that 59 percent of the American public supports restrictions identical to Washington, DC’s gun laws–which ban handgun possession and require that legally possessed rifles and shotguns be either disassembled or secured with a trigger lock–the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled tomorrow to hear oral arguments in…

For Release:  Friday, February 15, 2008 Washington, DC–Following yesterday’s mass shooting at Northern Illinois University which left six dead, including the shooter, and 16 wounded, America’s leading national gun violence prevention organizations, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and the Violence Policy Center, issued the following joint statement: “Our sympathies go to all those affected by this terrible tragedy. America is in a gun crisis. Yesterday’s shooting at…

For Release:  Tuesday, January 29, 2008 State’s Black Homicide Rate of 32.79 Per 100,000 is Six Times National Overall Homicide Rate of 5.10 Per 100,000 Washington, DC–Missouri leads the nation in the rate of black homicide victimization according to a new analysis of unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC). The annual study, Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2005 Homicide…

For Release:  Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Legislation Passed by Congress Would Revive Failed Multi-Million-Dollar Program to Restore Gun Privileges of Persons Currently Ineligible to Possess Firearms Because of Mental Health Disability  WASHINGTON, DC–Leading national gun violence prevention organizations the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Legal Community Against Violence, and the Violence Policy Center today warned that a bill intended to improve the records available to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)–the national system used…

For Release:   Tuesday, September 18, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC—The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2005 Homicide Data. This annual report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The VPC releases the study each year to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. In 2005, according to the most recent data available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s unpublished Supplementary…

For Release:  Tuesday, September 18, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC – The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2005 Homicide Data. This annual report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The VPC releases the study each year to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. Using 2005 data (the most recent available) from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s unpublished Supplementary Homicide…

For Release:  Wednesday, August 15, 2007 California Leads Nation in Decrease (-89%), Followed by Hawaii, (-88%) Massachusetts (-88%), Florida (-87%), and Connecticut (-87%)  America Once Had More Gun Dealers Than Gas Stations, Now Only Five States Do: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Wyoming  WASHINGTON, DC – The number of gun dealers in America has dropped by 194,998 since 1994 according to a new study released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC). The study (see https://vpc.org/studies/dealers07.pdf)…

For Release:  Monday, July 30, 2007 Washington, D.C.–The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released Drive-By America, a first-of-its kind national analysis of drive-by shootings. The study tallied news stories from the 50 states and the District of Columbia from July through December 2006 to identify data and trends associated with drive-by shootings, including the number of incidents by state, the number of victims killed and injured, as well as time of day and location. Findings of…

For Release:   Wednesday, July 25, 2007 Joint Release From Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Violence Policy Center, and Legal Community Against Violence Washington, D.C. – Leading gun violence prevention organizations today expressed their strong concerns about little-noted additions to the “NICS Improvement Act of 2007.” Originally introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) on January 5, 2007, the bill seeks to improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by providing states with grants…

For Release:  Monday, July 16, 2007 Washington, DC–Following today’s announcement by DC Mayor Adrian Fenty that the District of Columbia would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court the decision in Parker, et al v. the District of Columbia overturning on Second Amendment grounds the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, the Violence Policy Center released the following statement: “The earlier split decision by the Court of Appeals to overturn the District of Columbia�s handgun ban was…