Chapter 5
Firearms and Crime

Many of the statistics on the frequency and ways in which guns are used to commit crimes come from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which collects crime statistics through its Uniform Crime Reports program. Its annual publication Crime in the United States is a primary source for statistical information on crime. The FBI's crime statistics are based solely on police investigation reports and arrests; crimes that are not reported to the police are not included. The most recent report from the Uniform Crime Reports program is Crime in the United States, 2006 (September 2007, http://www.fbigov/ucr/cius2006/index.html).

The FBI reports in Crime in the United States, 2006 that 1,308,436 violent crimes (murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) were reported to law enforcement agencies in 2006, an increase of 1.9% from the previous year. (See Table 5.1.) However, the FBI notes that between 2002 and 2006 violent crime decreased 0.4%, and between 1997 and 2006 it decreased 13.3%.

Table 5.1 shows that offenses in two of the four violent crime categories increased from 2005 to 2006: murder increased 1.8% and robbery increased 6.8%. Offenses in two of the four violent crime categories decreased: forcible rape decreased 1.5% and aggravated assault decreased very slightly by 0.2%. Cities with populations of 25,000 to 49,999 had the largest increase for violent crimes at 3.8%.

In Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook (2004, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/handbook/ucrhandbook04.pdf), the FBI defines the following with respect to the four types of violent crimes shown in Table 5.1. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter: both are one type of criminal homicide and are defined as “the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another,” such as deaths caused by injuries received in a fight or assault. (The other type of criminal homicide is manslaughter by negligence, which is defined as “the killing of another person through gross negligence,” such as deaths caused by one person shooting and killing another by accident when target shooting.) Thus, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter mean the same thing, and both are a type of criminal homicide. Forcible rape: a man forces or attempts to force intercourse on a woman. Sexual attacks on men are counted as aggravated assaults or sex offenses. Statutory rape, in which an underage girl consents to intercourse with a man, is counted as a sex offense. Robbery: someone takes or attempts to take something of value from another with force or a threat of force, making the victim fearful. Aggravated assault: a person physically attacks another with the intent to inflict severe bodily harm. The attacker usually wields a weapon.

HOMICIDE AND MURDER

Murders, Weapons, and Circumstances

James Alan Fox and Marianne W. Zawitz of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) discuss in Homicide Trends in the United States (July 11, 2007, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/htius.pdf) the homicide victimization rate (the number of people killed by another per one hundred thousand population) from 1950 to 2005. The homicide rate was relatively low in the 1950s and the early 1960s, under five homicides per one hundred thousand people in most years. (See Figure 5.1.) By the mid-1960s, however, the rate rose dramatically and continued through the mid-1970s, reaching nearly ten homicides per one hundred thousand people. Following a slight dip, it peaked in 1980 at 10.2 homicides per 100,000. After a decline in the rate through 1984 to 7.9, the homicide rate rose again in the late 1980s and early 1990s to 9.8 homicides per 100,000 people in 1991.

The homicide rate fell throughout the 1990s. In 2000 it reached the lowest national homicide rate since 1966,

at 5.5 homicides per 100,000 people, and remained stabilized through 2005. (See Figure 5.1.) There are a number of hypotheses as to why this was so, including the strong economy of the 1990s, changing demographics, better policing strategies, tougher gun control laws, laws allowing the carrying of concealed weapons, increased use of capital punishment, increases in the number of police, the rising prison population, the receding crack epidemic, and the legalization of abortion two decades earlier.

In “Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors That Explain the Decline and Six That Do Not” (Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 18, no. 1, winter 2004), Steven D. Levitt analyzes these hypotheses. He concludes that the first six factors do not explain the decline but that the last four factors do. His research shows that “police are the first line of defense against crime.” In the 1990s the number of police officers in the United States increased about 14%. In addition, imprisonment of criminals increased in the 1990s, removing offenders from the streets and deterring others from committing crimes. He also suggests that as the crack epidemic receded, it had the effect of lowering the violent crime rate. Levitt also notes that a growing body of evidence shows that “unwanted” children are at a greater risk for crime than “wanted” children. As a result, the legalization of abortion with the Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113 [1973]) decision about two decades before the mid-1990s led to a reduction in the number of unwanted births and, therefore, to a reduction in the number of children who would have been at a greater risk for crime.

What types of weapons are used in homicides? Fox and Zawitz note that from 1976 to 2005 handguns were the weapons most often used, and incidents involving handguns increased beginning in the mid-1980s. (See Figure 5.2.) By 1993 handgun use began a dramatic decline as did the homicide rate. The number of homicide victims killed by guns from 2002 to 2005 increased slightly from the low point in 1999 to 2001.

Table 5.2 shows murder circumstances by weapon for 2006. In that year, handguns were the weapon most frequently used, accounting for 52% of murders (7,795 out of 14,990 murders), shotguns were used in 3.2% of murders, and rifles were used in 2.9%. Including “other” guns, over two-thirds (67.8%) of all murders in the United States in 2006 were committed using a firearm. A knife or other cutting instrument was used in 12.2% of murders (1,822 out of 14,990); personal weapons such as fists, hands, or feet in 5.5%; blunt instruments in 4%; and other weapons, such as poisons, fire, and explosives, in the remainder.

Table 5.3 shows murder by type of weapon for 2006 by state. The states with the fewest murders in 2006 were North Dakota (eight), South Dakota (eight), and Wyoming (nine). Firearms were involved in only one of the murders in North Dakota, two of the murders in South Dakota, and five of the murders in Wyoming. California was the state that had the highest number of murders in 2006: 2,485. Nearly three-quarters (73.3% or 1,822) of

these murders were committed with a firearm. Texas, the state with the second highest number of murders in 2006, saw 68.7% (949 out of 1,381) of these murders committed with firearms.

The vast majority of murderers and murder victims are men. Fox and Zawitz note that almost four times as many men as women were murdered in 2005. Murder is often the work of acquaintances: in 2006, 42.3% (6,335) of the murder victims knew their killers, with 11.9% (1,781) of murder victims related to their killers. (See Figure 5.3.) When the FBI published these 2006 crime statistics, the relationship of the offender to the victim was not known in 45% (6,750) of the murders. Strangers were the known perpetrators in 12.7% (1,905) of cases.

In When Men Murder Women : An Analysis of 2005 Homicide Data September 2007, http://www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2007.pdf), the Violence Policy Center (VPC), a national nonprofit educational foundation that conducts

research on violence in the United States, finds that in 2005 more women were killed with firearms (52%) than any other type of weapon. Of the homicides committed with firearms, almost three-quarters (72%) involved handguns. According to the study, “For victims who knew their offenders, 62 percent (976) of female homicide victims were wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers.”

The VPC confirms in American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States (May 2006, http://www.vpc.org/studies/amroul2006.pdf) that most murder-suicides are committed with a firearm (92%). In the first half of 2005, for all murder-suicides, 29% involved a handgun, 9.2% involved a shotgun, 3.8% involved a rifle, and 44.3% involved an unspecified type of firearm. Multiple weapons were used in 5.7% of murder-suicides, of which at least one was a firearm. Eight percent involved other weapons or means.

The Criminal Advantages of Guns

A gun offers a criminal several advantages over other weapons. A gun offender can keep a greater physical distance from the victim to ensure his or her own safety

and increase the chances of escaping. Moreover, a gun allows the offender to maintain a psychological distance as well, keeping the confrontation more impersonal and minimizing the emotional involvement. Control over potential victims can be easier to maintain with a gun; victims are less likely to run from a gun-carrying offender than from those brandishing other types of weapons, such as knives, for fear of being shot from a distance.

Mass murders are usually carried out with a firearm because they make it possible to kill the greatest number of people in a limited amount of time. Because guns can kill from a great distance, they are also the most effective weapon against well-guarded targets. Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is the heavy use of firearms in political assassinations or assassination attempts. Also, it is unlikely that a felon would try to rob a well-guarded institution with many customers and multiple exits, such as a bank, while wielding a club or knife.

Shootings in the Workplace and at School

Table 5.4 is a timeline showing some notable incidents of multiple shootings. The workplace and schools are sometimes targets for these atrocities. In Workplace Violence: Issues in Response (March 2004, http://www.fbi.gov/publications/violence.pdf), Eugene A. Rugala and Arnold R. Isaacs indicate that from 1993 to 1999 there were, on average, about nine hundred workplace homicides (by any cause) per year. Even though this number may sound high, it amounts to only 0.01 homicides annually per 1,000 people in the workforce.

In “Terror Nine to Five: Guns in the Workplace, 1994–2003” (May 2004), Handgun-Free America looks more specifically at workplace shootings and deaths from these shootings. This study reveals that shootings and deaths in the U.S. workplace rose between 1994 and 2003. There were twenty-five workplace shooting incidents in 2002, with thirty-three victims killed; and there were forty-five incidents in 2003, with sixty-nine victims killed and another forty-six wounded. The organization also notes that 91.6% of workplace shooters were men and that 51.8% had experienced a negative change in their employment status—23.8% had been laid off and 28% had been demoted or suspended by management.

The most common type of workplace shooting fatality occurs during a robbery of a retail, service, or transportation worker, but on-the-job killings are also perpetrated by disgruntled workers. Such was the case on April 9, 2007, when Anthony LaCalamita III opened fire on a receptionist and two senior partners at an accounting firm in Troy, Michigan, killing the female receptionist and wounding the two men with a Remington pump-action twelve-gauge shotgun. LaCalamita had been fired from the firm just three days earlier and bought the gun the day after his firing.

In other examples, Doug Williams, a worker at the Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian, Mississippi, used a rifle and a shotgun to kill five of his coworkers, injure eight others, and kill himself during a company meeting on July 8, 2003. Twenty-one-year-old Elijah Brown, a ConAgra Foods employee, used two handguns to kill five employees, injure two more, and kill himself in Kansas City, Missouri, in July 2004. These kinds of incidents

have become common enough that some companies now train management to be alert to potentially dangerous employees, particularly those who have been told they have lost their job.

Table 5.5 is a list of guns-in-the-workplace legislation from 2005 to 2008. The bills were all intended to take away the rights of property owners and employers to prohibit guns from being brought onto their property; that is, if these bills were enacted, property owners and employers would not be able to prohibit guns from being brought onto their property. The table shows that none of these bills became law in the beginning of 2008, one became law in 2007, two in 2006, and four in 2005.

The timeline in Table 5.4 includes the April 1999 incident in which Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed thirteen people and wounded twenty-three others at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, before shooting and killing themselves. They used a TEC-DC9 handgun, a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun, a pump-action shotgun, and a 9mm semiautomatic rifle. The timeline also includes the massacre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in which a mentally ill student used two handguns to kill thirty-two students and faculty members, injure fifteen others, and then shoot and kill himself. The table does not include the February 14, 2008, Northern Illinois University shooting in which five students were killed and sixteen wounded. After his shooting rampage, the shooter killed himself. Chapter 7 includes more information on school shootings.

POLICE DEATHS AND INJURIES

According to Fox and Zawitz, the number of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers who have been killed has declined dramatically since the 1970s, from 134 in 1973 to 55 killed in 2005. Most law enforcement officers are killed with firearms, particularly handguns.

In 1975 lightweight body armor became widely available and is credited for the decline in these firearm deaths.

Table 5.6 shows that in 2006 forty-eight law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, and forty-six (96%) of those deaths were by firearms. Handguns were the most frequently used firearm. More law enforcement officers were killed in the South than in any other region of the country, and firearms were the primary instrument of death.

Table 5.7 details the circumstances under which federal, state, and local police officers were killed feloniously (criminally) between 1997 and 2006. Of the 562 officers in this group, the greatest number of killings took place in arrest situations (133 out of 562, or 24%) and the second greatest in ambush situations (19%). Traffic pursuits/stops was a close third (18%).

Law enforcement officers are also killed in accidents while on duty. In Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2006 (October 2007, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/killed/2006/index.html), the FBI states that of the 739 federal, state, and local officers who were killed accidentally between 1997 and 2006, automobile accidents were the cause 56% (415 accidents) of the time. Officers were struck and killed by vehicles while directing traffic or on a traffic stop 17% (127 accidents) of the time. Accidental shootings accounted for only 4% (32 accidents) of the fatal accidents. Table 5.8 shows the numbers of law enforcement officers accidentally killed by region and state from 1997 to 2006. Nearly half (346 out of 739) were accidentally killed in the South.

Officers Assaulted

Table 5.9 shows the number and type of assaults on federal officers from 2002 through 2006. During this period there were 4,647 assaults on federal law enforcement officers. Firearms were not the most frequent weapons used in assaults; they were used only 9% (407) of the time. Most often used were personal weapons (e.g., fists), which were used 36% (1,670) of the time. In 2006 there were 1,273 nonfatal assaults against federal officers.

In 2006, 58,643 state and local law enforcement officers were assaulted. (See Table 5.10.) A large majority (79.8%) were attacked with personal weapons such as fists and feet. A lesser number were attacked with weapons other than guns or knives (14.5%), with firearms (3.9%), or with knives (1.8%). Nearly one out of three (35.8%, 815 out of 2,278) of the incidents in which officers were assaulted with firearms involved disturbance calls. About one out of three (35.2%) of all ambush assaults on officers (attacks made by someone hiding in wait) involved firearms. Almost one out of five (17.6%) assaults that occurred during robberies in progress or while pursuing robbery suspects involved firearms.

VIOLENT CRIMES INVOLVING FIREARMS

As mentioned earlier, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports collect data only on crimes reported to law enforcement agencies. To give a better picture of actual crime occurrence in the United States—including unreported crime—the DOJ has conducted the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) since 1973. The statistics appear in the annual report Criminal Victimization in the United States and accompanying statistical tables. The NCVS crime rate is sometimes spoken of as the “actual” or as the “estimated” crime rate. (Because of changes in the methodology of the survey in 2006, results for that year cannot be compared to results from previous years.)

The NCVS is divided into violent and property crime categories. Violent crime includes rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault (no weapon is involved). When publishing its data, the NCVS includes the murder rate, which is taken from the FBI's reports.

NCVS estimates reveal that over 4.7 million personal crimes of violence were committed in 2005, including rape, robbery, and assault. (See Table 5.11.) Overall, no weapon was involved in 67.4% of the crimes of violence in 2005. In only 24.3% of the incidents was a weapon used. In only 8.9% of cases was a firearm used. Most often the firearm was a handgun. Nonetheless, in certain crimes of violence, guns were used more or less frequently.

For example, firearms were used in 26.3% of robberies, but only in 3.1% of rapes.

In 2006 there were approximately 5.7 million personal crimes of violence reported. (See Table 5.12.) No weapon was involved in more than two-thirds (67.1%) of the incidents. Because of methodology changes in the 2006 NCVS, the estimates for 2006 cannot be compared to previous years.

Gun crime reported to the police (taken from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports) fell dramatically from 1993 through 1999, then rose slightly through 2002, then fell again through 2004, and then rose again through 2006. Figure 5.4 shows the peak of gun crime in 1993. In that year, slightly more than 580,000 crimes were committed with firearms. From 1999 through 2004 firearm crimes ranged from approximately 340,000 to 360,000 per year, but rose to nearly 390,000 in 2006.

Figure 5.5 shows that from 1993 to 2004 the percentage of violent crimes involving firearms declined as well, according to estimates from the NCVS. In 1993 about 11% of all violent crimes involved a firearm, but by 2004 only 6% did. Nonetheless, by 2005 the percentage of violent crimes involving firearms rose to 9%.

From 1993 to 2004 both the number of victims of nonfatal firearm-related violent crime and the number of incidents fell. (See Figure 5.6.) In 1993 and 1994 nonfatal firearm-related incidents numbered slightly more than one million. By 2004 such incidents numbered only about 280,000—a dramatic decrease. Likewise, in 1994 there were nearly 1.3 million victims of nonfatal firearm-related

violent crime. By 2004 the victims numbered about one-fourth of that figure—approximately 330,000. In 2005, however, the number of nonfatal firearm-related violent incidents rose to nearly 420,000, and the number of non-fatal firearm-related victims to approximately 477,000.

In 2004 the victimization rate estimates of nonfatal firearm crimes reached the lowest level ever recorded: 1.4 victims per 1,000 residents. (See Figure 5.7.) That rate rose in 2005. By the end of 2005, the victimization rate of nonfatal firearm crimes rose to two victims per one thousand residents.

Armed Robbery

As in the case of murder, armed robberies are recorded from police investigations. Thus, they do not

include incidents that were never reported, but they do include incidents in which the accused robbers were never convicted in court.

The impact of robbery on its victims cannot be measured only in terms of monetary loss. The goal of robbing someone is usually to obtain money or property, but the crime always involves force, and many victims suffer serious personal injury. Moreover, the psychological trauma can be severe and can affect the victim for the rest of his or her life. In 2005 there were an estimated 569,470 robberies. (See Table 5.11.)

Of the robberies committed in 2006 and reported to the police, 42.2% involved firearms. (See Table 5.13.) Guns were used most frequently in robberies that took place in the South (48.5%). The use of strong-arm tactics (bullying) occurred in 39.9% of the robberies overall, knives or cutting instruments were involved in 8.6%, and other weapons were used in the remaining 9.2% of robberies.

Aggravated Assault

The FBI reports in Crime in the United States, 2006 that in 2006 there were 860,853 aggravated assaults reported to police, which was a 0.2% decrease over the previous year and a 15.9% decrease from 1997.

In 2006 firearms were used in 21.9% of aggravated assaults, and knives or other cutting instruments were used in 18.7% of aggravated assaults. (See Table 5.14.) In the remaining weapons categories, personal weapons such as hands or feet were used in 25% of the aggravated assaults, and other weapons, such as clubs, were used in the remainder (34.4%). Table 5.14 categorizes the weapons used for aggravated assaults by region. These data show that midwestern states had the highest rate of firearms use in the commission of aggravated assaults (23.4%), followed closely by southern states (23.2%).

Justifiable Homicide

The FBI has also compiled data on the category of justifiable homicide, which it defines as “the killing of a felon [a person convicted of a serious criminal offense, such as murder, rape, or arson] by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty” or as “the killing of a felon, during the commission of a felony, by a private citizen.”

Table 5.15 shows the data for justifiable homicides committed by private citizens from 2002 to 2006, which indicate an increase from 2002 through 2003, a decrease through 2005, and then another increase through 2006. In 2006 there were 241 justifiable homicides committed by private citizens; firearms were used in 80.9% (195 out of 241) of these incidents.

DEMOGRAPHICS OF VICTIMIZATION

Table 5.16 shows the rates of violent crime and personal theft in 2006 by race, gender, and age of the victim. African-Americans (32.7 per 1,000 people) were more likely than whites (23.2 per 1,000) to be victims of violent crimes. Those identified as being of two or more races were even more likely to be victims of violent crimes (64.9 per 1,000 people). The category of “other race” had the lowest violent crime victimization rate, at 18.7 per 1,000 people.

In 2006, those aged twelve to twenty-four were far more likely to be victims of violent crime than people aged twenty-five and older. (See Table 5.17.) Of this group, sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds had the highest rate of violent victimization (52.3 per 1,000 people), twelve- to fifteen-year-olds had the second highest rate (47.3 per 1,000 people), and twenty- to twenty-four-year-olds had the lowest rate (43.7 per 1,000 people). The age group with the lowest violent victimization rate were those sixty-five years and older, at 3.5 per 1,000 people. Moreover, beginning with the sixteen- to nineteen-year-old group, the rate of violent victimization declined with age in 2006.

The rates of violent crime and personal theft are broken down into additional demographic categories in Table 5.18. The table shows that individuals with annual household incomes of less than $7,500 had the highest victimization rates for crimes of violence in 2006 than those living in households with higher annual incomes. Individuals residing in households that earned more than $75,000 annually had the lowest victimization rates for violent crime in 2006.

WHERE DO CRIMINALS GET FIREARMS?

How do criminals acquire guns? Beginning in 2003 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives

(ATF) was legally prohibited from publishing certain statistics on the sales of multiple handguns and on firearms tracing statistics (gun trace statistics). Thus, it is difficult to get up-to-date information on where criminals get their guns. (See Chapter 2 for a more detailed discussion on this topic.)

The most recent data available in mid-2008 were by Caroline Wolf Harlow of the BJS, in Firearm Use by Offenders (February 2002, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ pub/pdf/fuo.pdf), a survey of prison inmates. Results of this survey show that 13.9% of those who carried a firearm during the offense for which they were serving time in 1997 bought their gun from a retail store, pawn shop, flea market, or gun show. This figure was down from 20.8% in 1991, when the previous survey was conducted. Another 39.6% acquired their firearms from family or friends, up from 33.8% in 1991. The remaining 39.2% acquired their firearms “on the street” from an illegal source, down from 40.8% in 1991.

Another way of acquiring weapons is by theft. The FBI compiles data on the theft of guns through Stolen

Gun File Records. Between 1993 and 2002, 1.7 million firearms were taken, representing a rate of 16.8 stolen firearms for every 1,000 households. Jim Kessler and Lisa Kimbrough of the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation (AGSF; now known as the Third Way) explain in Stolen Firearms, Arming the Enemy (December 2002) that even though 687,857 of the weapons were later recovered, more than 1 million of these stolen firearms were unaccounted for as of 2002. From January to August 2002 alone, 82,387 firearms were stolen in the United States.

Many criminals get their guns from the black market (a market where products are bought and sold illegally). Sometimes, these guns are legally purchased in states with less restrictive gun laws and are then transported to states with strong gun laws, a phenomenon known as gunrunning or gun trafficking (buying, moving, and selling guns illegally). The AGSF notes in Selling Crime: High Crime Gun Stores Fuel Criminals (January 2004, http://www.thirdway.org/data/product/file/98/AGSF_Selling_Crime_Report.pdf) that between 1996 and 2000 half of all high-crime gun stores were located in five states: Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, Georgia, and Maryland. High-crime gun stores are those that sell firearms that are frequently recovered in crimes. The AGSF also notes that “the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has shown that approximately 1% of the nation’s gun stores are the source of 57% of the firearms traced to crimes.”

The coalition Mayors against Illegal Guns, a group headed by the mayors of New York City and Boston (see Chapter 3), hired an investigative services firm to determine where criminals get their guns. The results of this investigation were published in Inside Straw Purchasing: How Criminals Get Guns Illegally (2008, http://wwwmayorsagainstillegalgunsorg/downloads/pdf/inside-straw-purchasespdf). The report presents findings on straw purchasing, a situation in which a person who would be denied a gun purchase, such as a convicted felon or an underage buyer, has another person (the straw purchaser) fill out the paperwork and obtain the gun for him or her.

Sometimes a straw purchaser is used when a person simply does not want a gun purchase listed in his or her name.

Inside Straw Purchasing explains that straw purchasing occurred frequently in “easy” stores. Straw purchasers

Often paid for their purchases with both money and drugs, and bought many guns at one time. Gun dealers appear to be key in this illegal activity: some encourage straw purchases and actually “coach” straw purchasers, whereas others discourage the practice by asking many probing questions until the straw purchaser leaves the store. These dealers also train their employees how to spot straw purchases and thwart them.

GUNS AND THE LOCAL POLICE

Police Shootings

Firearms are a valuable aid to law enforcement officers. As mentioned previously, justifiable (excusable) homicide is defined as the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty or by another person while the felon is committing a crime. Table 5.19 shows the number of justifiable homicides by law enforcement between 2002 and 2006. Of the 376 justifiable homicides in 2006, all were committed with firearms: 326 with handguns, 21 with rifles, 11 with shotguns, and 18 with unspecified firearms. Police justifiably kill over three hundred felons each year. Most often, the felon is shot.

A Tool to Detect Gunfire

Some law enforcement officers, especially those who work in cities plagued by gangs and random shootings, have spoken of the frustration they feel when responding to reports of gunfire. Because it is difficult for the human ear to determine the direction from which a gunshot originates, callers cannot locate the source accurately and police officers are sometimes unable to respond appropriately. This increases the chance of serious injury or death to victims. Furthermore, once police finally arrive on the scene, the person with the gun may be already gone.

To help locate the source of gunfire to within twenty feet, acoustic sensors (devices similar to those used to detect earthquake epicenters) can be used. In June 1996 Redwood City, California, became one of the first communities to employ them. Mounted on buildings and telephone poles throughout the city, the sensors transmit

the time of the gunshots to a central computer that displays the location. This allows police to respond to gunfire before police dispatchers begin to get phone calls reporting the shots. According to field tests conducted by the Redwood City Police Department, the sensors identified gunfire locations within seconds.

Mapping and communication systems work with the sensors to identify “hot spots” and to call homes and businesses in the area when shots are detected. Those called respond to automated questions by pressing buttons on their phones. This process helps law enforcement officers determine who needs help and who would be useful to interview for additional information.

In 2001 the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department began using the urban gunshot detection system in certain areas. According to Ali Winston, in “City Picks Gunshot Detection System: Newark Aims to Cut Police Response Time” (Newark Star-Ledger, April 30, 2008), by 2008 twenty-seven U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., were using the Shotspotter’s Gunshot Location System. Newark, New Jersey, was to be the twenty-eighth city to use this particular system. Other companies have provided systems to cities throughout the country as well.

Targeted Patrols Reduce Gun Crime

Faced with rising rates of violent crime in the early 1990s, Kansas City, Missouri, was the first to experiment with the use of directed patrols to reduce violent crime. The experiment was conducted by the Kansas City Police Department and evaluated by Lawrence W. Sherman, James W. Shaw, and Dennis P. Rogan in “The Kansas City Gun Experiment” (Research in Brief, January 1995) and by Sherman and Rogan in “The Effects of Gun Seizures on Gun Violence: ‘Hot Spots’ Patrol in Kansas City” (Justice Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 4, December 1995). Kansas City police officers were trained to search for illegal guns, and then they assigned these additional law enforcement officers to a police beat with high levels of violent crime. Their job was to stop and search individuals for illegal guns. Their efforts led to a 65% increase in seizures of illegal firearms. This in turn was associated with a 50% decrease in gun-related crime in the targeted area.

After noting the success of the Kansas City program, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, introduced targeted patrols to reduce gun crime in high-crime areas of their cities. Both have had success in reducing gun violence with this program. According to Jacqueline Cohen and Jens Ludwig of the Brookings Institution, in Policing against Illegal Guns (December 2002), research results suggest that “the program worked by deterring criminals from carrying and using guns in public places rather than by removing criminals and their guns from the street.”

David Ress reports in “Police Seizures of Illegal Guns Is on the Rise” (Richmond Times Dispatch, March 25, 2004) that by 2004 Richmond, Virginia, had introduced targeted patrols and increased illegal gun seizures by 24% in the first three months of the year, compared to the same time for the previous year. Syracuse, New York, began targeted patrols for illegal guns in 2005. By 2008, targeted patrols existed in many cities to reduce a variety of crimes, including the possession of illegal guns.

Police and “Smart Gun” Technology

Most police officers are armed with high-powered weaponry. To ensure officer safety, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) wants to see law enforcement officers equipped with better weapons, so-called smart guns that could only be fired by the officer who owned the gun. The NIJ provided funding for the research and development of a Secure Weapon System. In 2003 an Australian-based research and development company partnered with