Firearm Injury and Death

By Marianne W. Zawitzand Kevin J. StromBJS Statisticians

Firearm injuries from crime includethose caused by interpersonal violenceregardless of whether the injured partywas the intended target or even aperpetrator. Such injuries can be fatal(homicides) or nonfatal (assaults).Incidents resulting in firearm injury mayinvolve other crimes like robbery andburglary but are referred to as assaults.While injuries other than gunshotwounds can result from crimes involv-ing a firearm, this report focuses ongunshot wounds.

No single source of data completelymeasures firearm injury and deathsfrom crime. Several sources cover onlyfatalities while others cover nonfatalinjury. For example, the National CrimeVictimization Survey (NCVS) does notinclude data about victims who died. In addition, while the NCVS provides a wealth of information about crime and victims, it does not capture enoughcases involving gunshot wounds toprovide annual estimates of many ofthe characteristics of such events.Hospital emergency departmentsurveillance systems are able to collectadditional cases and details aboutvictims of nonfatal gunshot wounds butdo not collect information about victimswho do not seek treatment in hospitals(about 20% of all victims of nonfatalgunshot wounds, according to theNCVS).

To describe firearm injury and deathfrom crime, this report uses data fromvictim surveys, hospital emergencydepartments, death certificates, andlaw enforcement reports on homicides.(See the box on page 5 and theMethodology for additional discussionof sources of data concerning firearminjury.)

How much crime involves firearmsand gunshot wounds? The BJS National Crime VictimizationSurvey (NCVS) data for 1993-97 showthat of the 19.2 million incidents ofnonfatal violent crime, excluding simpleassault —ù 28% were committed with a firearmù 4% were committed with a firearmand resulted in injuryù less than 1% resulted in gunshotwounds.

ù Of serious nonfatal violent victimiza-tions, 28% were committed with afirearm, 4% were committed with afirearm and resulted in injury, and lessthan 1% resulted in gunshot wounds.

ù Of all nonfatal firearm-relatedinjuries treated in emergency depart-ments, 62% were known to haveresulted from an assault. For firearm-related fatalities, 44% were homicides.

ù The number of gunshot woundsfrom assaults treated in hospitalemergency departments fell from64,100 in 1993 to 39,400 in 1997, a39% decline. Homicides committedwith a firearm fell from 18,300 in 1993to 13,300 in 1997, a 27% decline.

ù Four out of five of the victims of bothfatal and nonfatal gunshot woundsfrom crime were male.

ù Almost half of the victims of bothfatal and nonfatal gunshot woundsfrom crime were black males. Abouta quarter were black males ages 15 to 24.

ù Over half the victims of nonfatalgunshot wounds from crime wereyounger than 25. Older victims weremore frequent in the homicidestatistics.

ù Over half of the victims of nonfatalfirearm injury from crime who went to an emergency room were subse-quently hospitalized overnight.

Highlights

U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings

Firearm Injury and Death from Crime, 1993-97

October 2000, NCJ 182993

According to the FBI’s Uniform CrimeReports, 30% of the murders, robber-ies, and aggravated assaults reportedto police from 1993 to 1997 involvedfirearms. Of these violent crimes, 1%were murders. Of all murders from1993 to 1997, 69% were committedwith firearms.

How many people are injured by firearms and how many of theseinjuries are the result of crime?

According to the National HospitalAmbulatory Medical Care Surveyconducted by the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC), 0.4% ofall injury visits to hospital emergencydepartments from 1992 to 1995 werecaused by firearms (4 of every 1,000visits.)1 This estimate includes allcauses of firearm injury and mayinclude visits for patients seekingfollow-up care and patients who died at the hospital.

Estimates from the CDC Firearm InjurySurveillance Study show that from1993 through 1997, about 412,000nonfatal firearm-related injuries weretreated in U.S. hospital emergencydepartments.

-38%Percent change

64,200199769,600199684,200199589,6001994

104,2001993

411,8001993-97 Total

Firearm injury from all causes

Source: Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance Study,1993-97.

Of the total nonfatal firearm injuries —ù 62% resulted from assaultsù 17% were unintentionalù 6% were suicide attemptsù 1% were legal interventionsù 13% were from unknown causes.

While most nonfatal firearm-relatedinjuries are from crime, most firearm-related deaths are suicides. Accordingto the Vital Statistics, 180,533 firearmdeaths occurred from 1993 through1997: 51% were suicides, 44%homicides, 1% legal interventions, 3%unintentional incidents, and 1% were ofundetermined causes.

The number of nonfatal assaultsand homicides from firearmsdeclined from 1993 to 1997

From 1993 to 1997 nonfatal firearminjuries from crime declined 39% andfirearm-related homicides fell 27%.Firearm injury and deaths from othercauses also declined over the period.Firearm injuries resulting from suicideattempts declined 45%, and those fromunintentional causes declined 39%.Unintentional deaths from firearms fellby 36% and suicides fell by 7%. (Formore detailed data, see Appendix.)

*95% confidence interval estimates thenumber to be between 160,300 to 353,700.See Methodology.

-27%-39%Percentchange

13,25239,400199714,03739,200199615,55153,400199517,52761,200199418,25364,1001993

78,620*257,2001993-97 Total

HomicidesNonfatalassaults

Nonfatal and fatal firearm injuries

Sources: Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance Study,1993-97 and the Vital Statistics of the UnitedStates, 1993-97.

The ratio of nonfatal to fatal gunshotinjuries varies by intent

From 1993 through 1997 there were3.3 nonfatal gunshot injuries fromassault treated in hospital emergencydepartments for every firearm-relatedhomicide. For gunshot injuriessustained unintentionally, there were11.4 nonfatal injuries for every gunshotfatality. Firearm-related suicide

attempts were the most likely to resultin a fatality, as there were 0.3 firearm-related attempted suicides for everycompleted suicide.2

Most victims of gunshot injury anddeath from crime were male; almosthalf were black males

From 1993 to 1997—ù Eighty-nine percent of the victims ofnonfatal gunshot wounds from crimewere male; 84% of firearm homicidevictims were male, according to theFBI’s Supplementary HomicideReports (SHR).

ù Blacks made up 54% of the victimsof nonfatal gunshot wounds from crimeand 54% of the homicide victims.

ù Almost 1 in 5 victims of nonfatalgunshot wounds from crime wereHispanic. Equivalent data for homicidevictims are not available in the SHR.According to the Vital Statistics, 18% ofthe homicide victims were Hispanic.

5Unknown**...Other female2Hispanic female3Other male3White female*6Black female

15White male*17Hispanic male

%49Black male

Percent of victims of nonfatal gunshot wounds from crime

... Less than .05%.*Represents white, non-Hispanic.**Males of unknown race represented 4.2% ofthe victims, and females of unknown race were0.5%.Source: Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance Study,1993-97.

Black males ages 15 to 24 made up26% of all the victims of nonfatalgunshot wounds from crime and 22%of the homicide victims.

While the majority of victims of nonfataland fatal gunshot wounds from crime

2 Firearm Injury and Death from Crime, 1993-97

2 V. Beaman, J.L. Annest, J.A. Mercy, M.Kresnow, and D.A. Pollock, “Lethality offirearm-related injuries in the United Statespopulation,” Annals of Emergency Medicine,35:258-266, 2000.

1 C.W. Burt and L.A. Fingerhut. “Injury visits tohospital emergency departments: United States,1992-95,” National Center for Health Statistics,Vital Health Statistics, 13:131, 1998.

were black, most victims of uninten-tional firearm injury and death andsuicides and suicide attempts withfirearms were white.

Many victims of nonfatal and fatalgunshot wounds from crime werejuveniles and young adults

40584525 and older

19171921-2424141918-201581315-172%2%3%

14 and under

HomicideNonfatalassaultAge

Firearmhomicideoffend-ers

Victims of firearmin jury

Note: May not total to 100%. Data on personsof unknown age are not presented.Sources: Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance Study,1993-97, and FBI, Uniform Crime Reports,Supplementary Homicide Reports, 1993-97.

Juveniles (persons under age 18)accounted for 16% of the victims ofnonfatal gunshot wounds from crimeand 10% of the firearm homicidevictims. Thirty-five percent of thevictims of nonfatal gunshot woundsfrom crime and 24% of the homicidevictims were under 21 years of age.

Homicide offenders are also likely to beyoung. According to the Supplemen-tary Homicide Reports from 1993 to1997, 60% of the offenders who used afirearm to commit murder wereyounger than 25; 17% were juvenilesand 24% were between ages 18 and20. (The Youth Handgun Safety Act of1994 prohibits possession of handgunsby anyone under 18, and under theGun Control Act of 1968 it is unlawfulfor federally licensed firearms dealersto sell handguns to persons under 21.)

How did the victims of nonfatalfirearm assaults get to the hospital?

3Air transport3Unknown3Police6Walk-in

19Private vehicle%66EMS/Rescue/Ambulance

Percent ofgunshot woundvictims

Mode of transportto the hos pital


About two-thirds of the victims ofgunshot wounds from crime who weretreated in emergency departmentswere taken to the emergency depart-ment by an emergency medicalservice, ambulance, or rescue squad.

Victims of unintentional firearm injurydiffer from gunshot victims from crimein that a higher percentage come tohospital by private vehicle than anyother means.

Firearm Injury and Death from Crime, 1993-97 3

Different sources of data on firearm injury from crime show consistent demographic patterns

A comparison of two sources offirearm homicide data to the CDC'sdata on nonfatal firearm injury fromcrime shows similar demographicpatterns among victims. Black malesare the most frequent victims offirearm homicide and nonfatal firearminjury from crime. Young people arealso more frequently victims in allthree sources. One explanation ofwhy older victims are more frequent inthe homicide statistics is that they areless able than younger victims torecover from gunshot wounds.

Although these sources have differentpopulation coverage (see Methodol-ogy), the homicide victims in the VitalStatistics and the FBI's Supplemen-tary Homicide Reports appear to bevery similar. Some of the differencesbetween these sources and thefirearm injury study are due to differ-ences in population coverage or to theestimation procedures used with thefirearm injury surveillance sample.

*Includes legal intervention homicides.**For comparison, Hispanics who were included in the other racial category in the original datawere included in the white racial category. Hispanic origin is not sufficiently reported in theSupplementary Homicide Reports to allow comparison.Sources: Vital Statistics of the United States, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNational Center for Health Statistics, 1993-97; FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, SupplementaryHomicide Reports, 1993-97; and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centerfor Injury Prevention, Firearms Injury Surveillance Study, 1993-97.

010Unknown

7131345 and older

12161735-44

26292925-34

25222220-24

26171715-19

%3%2%30-14

Age

423Other

676Black female

494746Black male

**599White female

%**33%34%36White male

Race and gender

Nonfatal firearminjury fromassault

FBI's Supplemen-tary HomicideReportsVital statistics*

Firearm homicides, 1993-97

Where were victims of nonfatalgunshot assaults wounded?

Data from the CDC study of nonfatalfirearm injury show that almost half ofthe victims shot as a result of anassault received wounds to theextremities (arms, hands, legs, or feet).Over a third of firearm assault victimswere shot in their trunk, and theremainder were shot in their head orneck.

By contrast, over two-thirds of thevictims of unintentional gunshotwounds were shot in their arms, legs,or feet, while two-thirds of the peoplewho attempted suicide were shot intheir head, neck or upper trunk.

Most victims of nonfatal firearmassaults who are treated in anemergency room are subsequentlyhospitalized

The CDC data show that 53% of thevictims of nonfatal gunshot woundsfrom assaults (an estimated 137,000)were hospitalized at least overnightafter their initial treatment in anemergency room. (95% confidenceinterval estimates the number to bebetween 84,900 to 189,000. SeeMethodology.) The remainder (46%)were released after being treated ortransferred. An earlier CDC firearmsstudy estimated that about 92% of thevictims hospitalized for firearm injurywere discharged from the hospitalalive.3

Data from the NCVS on nonfatalfirearm crimes for 1993-97 show thatover half of the victims of gunshotwounds who sought treatment weretreated and released.

Other characteristics of the eventsinvolving gunshot wounds fromcrime

For many victims of nonfatal and fatalgunshot wounds from crime, little is

known about the event. For nonfatalinjuries covered in the CDC study,much of this information is unavailablein hospital emergency departments.For fatalities, the police may not knowor may not report any informationabout the event other than it was ahomicide. This section outlines thedetails about events involving gunshotwounds from crime from one or moreof the sources used.

Type of firearm

For 59% of the victims of nonfatalgunshot wounds from crime in the CDCstudy, the type of firearm used wasunknown. Where the firearm type wasknown, 82% of the victims were shotby handguns, 14% by shotguns, and4% by rifles.

In the Supplementary HomicideReports from 1993 through 1997, 81%of those killed with firearms were killed

with a handgun, 6% with shotguns, 5%with rifles, and 7% with unspecifiedfirearms. The SHR does not collectadditional detail about the firearm.

Criminal circumstances

Information about whether the injuryresulted from another crime, such as arobbery or from a physical fight, wasrecorded for about a third of the casesin the CDC study. Of the victims of firearm homicideincluded in the SupplementaryHomicide Reports from 1993 through1997—ù 28% were killed because of anargumentù 19% were killed during the commis-sion of another crime, including 11%during a robbery and 7% duringa drug law violation ù 7% died as a result of a juvenile gangkilling.


How often are police officers injured in assaults with firearms?

In 1998, over 400 police officerswere injured in firearm assaultsand 58 police officers were killedby a firearm while responding to acrime. The firearm injury rate forpolice officers declined in the early1980’s and began climbing againafter 1987. In the late 1990’s,firearm injury rates fell to thelowest levels recorded during the1978-98 period.

The greatest decline in the numberof officers killed by firearmsoccurred in the early 1980’s. Thenumber of officers injured byfirearms during an assault roseduring the late 1980’s and early1990’s and declined sharply after1992. As a result, the ratio ofthose injured to killed from firearmassaults has been decreasing.

Source: FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, LawEnforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted,1978-98.

1980 1985 1990 19950

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Number of police officers in jured b y firearmsdurin g an assault

1980 1985 1990 19950

25

50

75

100

Number of police officers killed b y firearmsdurin g an assault

1980 1985 1990 19950

1

2

3

Number of firearm in juries from assaultper 1,000 police officers

3 J.L. Annest and others, "National Estimates ofNonfatal Firearm-Related Injuries: Beyond theTip of the Iceberg," Journal of the AmericanMedical Association, 273, 22:1749-54, June 14,1995

Location of the assaults thatresulted in gunshot wounds

The CDC study found that the locationof the assault was —ù unknown by hospital staff in half theincidentsù a street or highway in 23%ù a home, apartment, or condominiumin 14%ù other property, including schools orrecreation areas, in 13%.

In 2% of the cases, the assault wasreported to have occurred when thevictim was on the job. In the textdescriptions provided by hospital staff,the term "drive-by" was used todescribe what happened to 12% of thevictims of nonfatal gunshot injury fromassaults. Similar data are not availablefrom the SHR.

Relationship of injured victims totheir attackers

In more than half of the cases in theCDC study, the victim's relationship tothe offender was not reported. Whenrelationship was reported, 49% of thevictims were attacked by strangers and28% did not see who shot them.

3All other known

8Friend/acquaintance

12Did not see offender

22Stranger

%56Relationship unknown

Percent of victimsof nonfatal gunshotwounds from crime

Victim-offenderrelationship


Data from the BJS 1994 Study ofInjured Victims of Violence (SIVV)show that intentional gunshot caseswere less likely to contain informationabout the person who inflicted theinjury than incidents involving inten-tional injuries not caused by a firearm.Among cases of nonfatal violentinjuries treated in U.S. emergencydepartments in 1994, 55% of gunshotcases did not include information aboutthe relationship of the victim to theoffender compared to 27% of the casesinvolving non-gunshot injuries.

The relationship to the offender wasunknown in 41% of the firearmhomicides in the SupplementaryHomicide Reports from 1993 through1997. The killer was a stranger to thevictim in 15% of the homicides. In 44%of the homicides during the period,


Firearm homicide data from severalsources have been available formany years including: ù Vital Statistics of the United States,which collects data from death certifi-cates filed throughout the Nationù Supplementary Homicide Reports,which include data reported to theFBI’s Uniform Crime ReportingProgram by State and local lawenforcement agencies on a voluntarybasis.

Both can provide State and local dataas well as national data. Bothsystems also have limitations. (Seeadditional discussion of thesesources in the Methodology.) Neithercollects any information from medicalexaminers or crime laboratories.

Little data on nonfatal firearm injurieswere available until recently. Whilemany jurisdictions have laws mandat-ing the reporting of gunshot woundsto law enforcement, there is nonational registry of such injuries.

CDC initiated the Firearms InjurySurveillance Study in June 1992. Asdiscussed in the Methodology, thisstudy collects data about gun-related

injuries treated at hospital emergencydepartments through the ConsumerProduct Safety Commission'sNational Electronic Injury SurveillanceSystem. This study produces nationalestimates from a sample of hospitalemergency departments.

Much of the firearm injury informationrelevant in the criminal justicecontext, like data about the offenderand the circumstances, is not wellreported in a hospital-based collec-tion. Emergency department person-nel are primarily concerned withtreating victims. In addition, victimsmay be unable or unwilling to shareinformation about the incident.

The National Crime VictimizationSurvey provides a detailed picture ofcrime incidents, victims, and trendsoccurring each year in the UnitedStates. Because firearm crime andresulting injury are relatively rarewhen compared to all types of crime,the NCVS provides limited informa-tion about gunshot injuries fromcrime. No local data are availablefrom the NCVS.

The Federal Bureau of Investigationis currently implementing animproved crime reporting system, theNational Incident-based ReportingSystem (NIBRS), which has thepotential to provide detailed statisticsabout crime, including crimes commit-ted with firearms that result in either nonfatal or fatal injury. Currently, 40States are in some stage of develop-ment or implementation of NIBRS.

NIBRS covers those incidents wherevictims of firearm crime are known tothe police. The information fromNIBRS about the type of injuriesincurred or the type of firearm used islimited.

Additional sources of data concerningfirearm injury not specifically relatedto crime also exist. For a comprehen-sive discussion of all these sources,see J.L. Annest and J.A. Mercy, “Use of National Data Systems forFirearm-Related Injury Surveillance”in “Firearm-Related Injury Surveil-lance,” R.M. Ikeda, J.A. Mercy, andS.P. Teret, eds., American Journal ofPreventive Medicine, 15, 3S, October1998.

What information is available about firearm injury and death from crime and interpersonal violence?

the killer was known to the victimincluding — ù 31% in which the victim and offenderwere friends or acquaintances ù 12% in which the killer was a relativeor intimate of the victim.

Methodology

CDC Firearms Injury SurveillanceStudy — These data were compiledthrough the U.S. Consumer ProductSafety Commission's (CPSC) NationalElectronic Injury Surveillance System(NEISS). The CPSC establishedNEISS in 1972 to track product-relatedinjuries. NEISS collects data fromhospitals selected as a representativesample of the approximately 6,000hospitals with emergency departmentsin the United States. From 1993through 1996, 91 hospitals were in thesample; in 1997 the number of hospi-tals increased to 101. The systemincludes very large inner-city hospitalswith trauma centers, as well as othertypes of urban, suburban, and ruralhospitals. Data from the NEISS hospi-tals are weighted to providenational estimates about injuriestreated in U.S. hospital emergencydepartments.

Through an agreement with CDC,NEISS was used to collect data onnonfatal gun-related injuries at allparticipating hospitals beginning inJune 1992. NEISS personnelabstracted information from medicalrecords on each case identified.Further information about the study canbe found in J.L. Annest and others,"National Estimates of NonfatalFirearm-Related Injuries: Beyond theTip of the Iceberg," Journal of theAmerican Medical Association, June14, 1995.

The CDC data for 1993 through May1997 consists of 13,402 unweightedcases. This report focuses on the8,988 unweighted cases coded asassaults that involved nonfatal gunshotwounds caused by any weapon thatuses a powder charge to fire a projec-tile. Injuries from undetermined intentwere not included. Therefore, theestimates presented here may not be

the same as those previouslypublished.

Because the CDC data are based onnonfatal firearm injuries treated at anationally representative sample ofU.S. hospital emergency departments,the estimates that are derived from thedata are subject to sampling error. Tomeasure the precision of nationalestimates obtained from the data, CDCestimated the generalized standarderrors for estimates of selected samplesize as follows:

The Bureau of Justice Statistics alsoused NEISS to collect informationabout both firearm and nonfirearmintentional interpersonal injury. TheBJS Study of Injured Victims ofViolence (SIVV) collected data from 31hospitals in the NEISS sample during1994. The information on intentionalfirearm injury in the BJS study comesfrom the CDC firearm injury data. ABJS special report, Violence-RelatedInjuries Treated in Hospital EmergencyDepartments, (August 1997,NCJ-156921) presents findings fromthis study.

The National Hospital AmbulatoryMedical Care Survey (NHAMCS) —Conducted by the National Center forHealth Statistics of the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention, thissurvey is designed to collect data onthe utilization and provision of ambula-tory care services in hospitalemergency and outpatientdepartments. Findings are based on anational sample of visits to theemergency departments and outpatientdepartments of non-institutionalgeneral and short-stay hospitals, exclu-sive of Federal, military, and VeteransAdministration hospitals, in the 50States and the District of Columbia.

The survey uses a four-stage probabil-ity design with samples of geographi-cally defined areas, hospitals withinthese areas, clinics, hospitals, andpatient visits within clinics. Annual datacollection began in 1992.

National Crime Victimization Survey—The NCVS is the Nation's primarysource of information on criminalvictimization. The survey provides adetailed picture of crime incidents,victims, and trends occurring each yearin the United States. The surveycollects information on the frequencyand nature of the crimes of rape,sexual assault, personal robbery,aggravated and simple assault,household burglary, theft and motorvehicle theft utilizing a nationally repre-sentative sample of approximately43,000 households (about 80,000persons).

The survey provides information aboutvictims (such as age, gender, andrace), offenders (age, gender, andrace) and the crimes (use of weapons,nature of injury, etc.). From 1993through 1997, the NCVS recorded 43unweighted cases of gun shot injuryfrom crime.

Firearm homicide data — Firearmhomicide data come from two primarysources: ù Vital Statistics of the United States,which collect data from death certifi-cates filed throughout the Nationù Supplementary Homicide Reports,which include data reported to theUniform Crime Reporting Program ofthe FBI by State and local law enforce-ment agencies on a voluntary basis.

The Vital Statistics information includesthe demographic characteristics offirearm homicide victims and is thoughtto be an accurate count of the numberof such deaths. It does not containinformation about the circumstancessurrounding the death, the type offirearm used, or suspected offenders.The Supplementary Homicide Reportsprovide such detailed information.However, not all agencies report, andnot all reports are complete.


160,286-353,71419%49,344257,00092,964-207,03619%29,100150,00061,584-138,41620%19,600100,00030,302-69,69820%10,05050,00014,759-35,24121%5,22525,0005,629-14,37122%2,23010,0002,648-7,35224%1,2005,000

394-1,60631%3091,000

95% confidenceinterval

Relativesamplingerror inpercent

StandarderrorEstimate

Vital Statistics reported 78,620 firearm-related homicides from 1993 through1997. Supplementary HomicideReports covering this period includedata on 67,459 firearm-relatedmurders. The homicide data from the Vital Statis-tics and the Uniform Crime Reportsprovide slightly different estimates ofthe number of homicides annually.Rokaw and others attributed this todifferences in — ù coverage of the U.S. population ù practices or rules governing thereporting of homicides to NCHS andthe FBI ù criteria used in defining a case as ahomicide ù categories used and rules employedto classify people among demographicsubgroups.

Additional information about the differ-ences between the Vital Statistics andthe Uniform Crime Reports estimatesof homicide can found in the following: Cantor, D. and L.E. Cohen. "ComparingMeasures of Homicide Trends: Methodologicaland Substantive Differences in the Vital Statis-tics and the Uniform Crime Report Time Series(1933-1975)," Social Science Research, 9:121-145, 1980.

Hindelang, M.J. "The Uniform Crime ReportsRevisited," Journal of Criminal Justice, 2:1-17,1974.

Rand, M.R. "The Study of Homicide Caseflow: Creating a Comprehensive Homicide Dataset,"paper presented to the meeting of the AmericanSociety of Criminology in New Orleans, Louisi-ana, November 1992.

Rokaw, W.M., J.A. Mercy, and C.C. Smith,"Comparing Death Certificate with FBI CrimeReporting Statistics on U.S Homicides," PublicHealth Reports, 105:447-455, 1990.

Rosenberg, M.L. and J.A. Mercy. "Homicide: Epidemiologic Analysis at the National Level,"Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine,62, 5:376-399, 1986.

Law Enforcement Officers Killed andAssaulted — This FBI series providesdetailed information about duty-relateddeaths including those that result fromfelonious actions. Federal, State, andlocal agencies notify the FBI of line-of-duty deaths. Once notified, the FBIcontacts the victim officer’s employingagency for additional details surround-ing the death.

In addition, State and local agenciesreport the number of assaults resultingin serious injury or instances where aweapon was used which could havecaused serious injury or death. Otherassaults are recorded only if theyinvolved more than verbal abuse orminor resistance to arrest. Data aresubmitted monthly to the FBI.

Sources

Annest, J.L., J.A. Mercy, D.R. Gibson, and G.W.Ryan. "National Estimates of Nonfatal Firearm-Related Injuries: Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg,"Journal of the American Medical Association.273, 22: 1749-54, June 14,1995.

"BB and Pellet Gun-Related Injuries, UnitedStates, June 1992, May 1994," Morbidity andMortality Weekly Report, Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention. 44, 49:909-13, Decem-ber 15, 1995.

Beaman V., J.L. Annest, J.A. Mercy, M.Kresnow, and D.A. Pollock. “Lethality of firearm-related injuries in the United States population,”Annals of Emergency Medicine. 35:258-266,2000.

BJS. National Crime Victimization Survey,1993-97.

Burt, C.W. and L.A. Fingerhut. “Injury visits tohospital emergency departments: United States,1992-95,” National Center for Health Statistics.Vital Health Statistics. 13, 131, 1998.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,National Center for Health Statistics. AdvanceReport of Final Mortality Statistics, 1992,Monthly Vital Statistics Report. 43, 6, December1994.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,National Center for Injury Prevention. FirearmsInjury Surveillance Study, 1993-97.

FBI. Uniform Crime Reports, Law EnforcementOfficers Killed and Assaulted, 1978-98.

FBI. Uniform Crime Reports, SupplementaryHomicide Reports, 1993-97.


*Annual estimates for legal intervention injuries are presented for completeness but may be statistically unreliable because they are based on a small number of cases.**Injury deaths include firearm-related deaths. The total represents only the categoriespresented here. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, 1993-97 and the Vital Statistics of the United States, 1993-97.

17,259450,778154,9661,770112,877737,6501993-97

Injury deaths**

-35%-36%-7%-15%-27%-18%Percent change

36798117,56627013,25232,4361997

4131,13418,16629014,03734,0401996

3941,22518,50328415,55135,9571995

5181,35618,76533917,52738,5051994

5631,52118,94031818,25339,5951993

2,2556,21791,9401,50178,620180,5331993-97

Firearm-relateddeaths

-36%-39%-45%*-31%-39%-38%Percent change

9,70011,1003,100*90039,40064,2001997

12,00013,6004,000*70039,20069,6001996

10,40014,3005,000*1,00053,40084,2001995

8,00013,6005,700*1,10061,20089,6001994

15,10018,2005,600*1,30064,100104,2001993

55,20070,90023,400*5,100257,200411,8001993-97

Nonfatalgunshotin jury

Undeter-min ed

Uninten-tional

Suicideattempts/Suicide

Legal int erventi on

Assault orhomicideTotal

Appendix. Number of nonfatal gunshot injuries and firearm-related deaths

Fox, J.A. and M.W. Zawitz. “Homicide Trends inthe United States,” a section of the BJS website,http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/homtrnd.htm

Ikeda, R.M., J.M. Mercy, and S.P. Teret, eds.“Fiream-related injury surveillance,” AmericanJournal of Preventive Medicine.15, 3S, October1998.

“Nonfatal and Fatal Firearm-Related Injuries &United States, 1993-97,” Morbidity and MortalityWeekly Report, Centers for Disease Control andPrevention. 48, 45:1029-1034, November 19,1999.

Rand, M.R. “Violence-Related Injuries Treated inHospital Emergency Departments,” BJS SpecialReport. August 1997, NCJ-156921.

Rokaw, W.M., J.A. Mercy, and J.C. Smith."Comparing Death Certificate Data with FBICrime Reporting Statistics on U.S. Homicides,"Public Health Reports. 105:447-455.

Strom, K.J. “Using Hospital Emergency RoomData to Assess Intimate Violence-relatedInjuries,” Justice Research and Policy. 4, Spring2000.

Zawitz, M.W. Firearm Injury from Crime, BJSSelected Findings. April 1996, NCJ-160093.


The Bureau of Justice Statistics isthe statistical arm of the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice. Jan M. Chaiken,Ph.D., is director.

Substantial assistance in preparingthis report was provided by J. LeeAnnest, Ph.D., Director, and GeorgeW. Ryan, Ph.D., Mathematical Statis-tician, Office of Statistics andProgramming, National Center forInjury Prevention and Control,Centers for Disease Control andPrevention; Lois Fingerhut, NationalCenter for Health Statistics, Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention; and Michael Rand and Craig Perkins,BJS.

Verification and publication reviewwere provided by Rhonda Keith andTom Hester of the Bureau of JusticeStatistics. October 2000, NCJ 182993

The data and the report, as well asothers from the Bureau of JusticeStatistics, are available through theInternet —http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/

Some of the data utilized in thisreport are available from theNational Archive of Criminal JusticeData at the University of Michigan,http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/home.html. See CDC Firearm InjurySurveillance Study, 1993-1997,ICPSR 3018 and Uniform CrimeReports Supplementary HomicideReports, 1976-1998, ICPSR 2832.

Documents

Firearm Injury and Death