Firearms, Use and Control of

Violent confrontations usually do not have a predetermined outcome. One important determinant of whether the victim lives or dies is the type of weapon used by the assailant. Relative to other types of readily available weapons, guns are intrinsically more lethal, providing the assailant with the power to kill quickly, at a distance, with little effort or sustained intent. The evidence shows that if a gun is deployed during a violent encounter, the chance that someone will die or be seriously injured is increased. That accounts in part for the fact that while only a small fraction of assaults involve guns, about two-thirds of the homicides do. In short, guns intensify violence.

The widespread availability of guns helps account for the most distinctive feature of crime in the United States. While many say that the United States is an exceptionally violent country, the rates of assault and robbery are actually comparable to those in some other developed countries. However, the rate of gun use in these crimes is much higher. The result is a homicide rate several times that found in other developed countries.

While the conclusion that the type of weapon matters would seem only common sense, it is often ignored. Conventional legal and criminological interpretations of homicide place more emphasis on motivation, intent, and character than on the type of weapon used by an assailant. Nevertheless, the evidence suggests that [Page 589]regardless of intent and character, a successful effort to separate guns from violence would sharply reduce the number of victims killed in domestic violence, robberies, gang wars, and routine altercations.

The same conclusion applies to suicide attempts, where the type of weapon has considerable effect on the likelihood of death. But the discussion here focuses on interpersonal violence.