Here is a good article I found on the assault weapons ban from 1999. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/jerrylee/research/aw_brief1999.pdf

Wondering why there doesn't seem to be very much new information about gun crimes. Seems like they just want to pass new gun control laws without having any facts available.

Hope we can preserve ALL the statistical proof that shows that armed citizens with and without CCW permits prevent and stop crime and that gun bans do nothing but make it easier for criminals to prey on the defenseless.

This data is in danger of disappearing... quicker than the Rose Law Firm billing records did.

Seems like they just want to pass new gun control laws without having any facts available.

Since when have facts ever mattered to advocates of citizen disarmament? They couch their arguments in false or mis-directed cliches:

pious: "If it saves even one life."

judgemental: "Why do you need a gun."

closed-minded: "Guns are only good for killing."

Did a Clusty.com search on "Firearms and Crime Statistics" and got the page below from the cache. I converted (almost) all relative links to static in hopes of finding some residual files. The entire subsite http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ seems to have 'disappeared'. Maybe they're updating them with a 'greater truth'.

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BJS home page

Special topics

Firearms and Crime Statistics

Summary findings | BJS publications | Also by BJS staff | Related sites

Summary findings

Victimization

Firearm-related crime has plummeted since 1993, then slightly increased in 2005.

Nonfatal firearm-related violent crimes, 1993-2005

Nonfatal firearm crime rates have declined since 1994, before increasing in 2005.

Nonfatal firearm-related violent victimization rate, 1993-2005

After 1996, less than 10% of nonfatal violent crimes involved firearm.

Percent of violent crimes involving firearms, 1993-2005

According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) in 2005, 477,040 victims of violent crimes stated that they faced an offender with a firearm.
Incidents involving a firearm represented 9% of the 4.7 million violent crimes of rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault in 2005.
The FBI's Crime in the United States estimated that 66% of the 16,137 murders in 2004 were committed with firearms.

For more information about weapons used in homicide see:
- Weapons Section of Homicide Trends in the United States
- State and Local Homicide Trends and Characteristics in Data Online.

Reported Crime

After falling to levels last experienced in the 1990's, gun crime reported to the police stabilized

Crimes committed with firearms, 1973- 2004

Injury

From 1993 through 1997, less than 1% of serious nonfatal violent victimizations resulted in gunshot wounds.
The number of gunshot wounds from assaults treated in hospital emergency departments fell from 64,100 in 1993 to 39,400 in 1997, a 39% decline.

Offenders

According to the 1997 Survey of State Prison Inmates, among those possessing a gun, the source of the gun was from -
- a flea market or gun show for fewer than 2%
- a retail store or pawnshop for about 12%
- family, friends, a street buy, or an illegal source for 80%
During the offense that brought them to prison, 15% of State inmates and 13% of Federal inmates carried a handgun, and about 2%, a military-style semiautomatic gun.
On average, State inmates possessing a firearm received sentences of 18 years, while those without a weapon had an average sentence of 12 years.
Among prisoners carrying a firearm during their crime, 40% of State inmates and 56% of Federal inmates received a sentence enhancement because of the firearm.

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BJS Publications

This list is in order of the most recent publication first. Additional titles are listed on other topical pages and a comprehensive list is contained on the BJS publications page. To see a full abstract of a publication with links to electronic versions of the publication, click on the title below.

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2004, 10/05. Describes background checks for firearm transfers conducted in 2004. NCJ 210117

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2003: Trends for the Permanent Brady Period, 1999-2003, 9/04. NCJ 204428
Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2002, 9/03. NCJ 200116
Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2001, 9/02. NCJ 195235
Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2000, 7/01. NCJ 187985
Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 1999, 6/99. NCJ 180882

Data on this subject for the Brady Interim period prior to the permanent provisions are available in Presale Handgun Checks, the Brady Interim Period, 1994-98.

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2004, 8/05. Provides an overview of the firearm check procedures in each of the States and their interaction with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) operated by the FBI. NCJ 209288

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2003, 8/04. NCJ 203701
Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2002, 4/03. NCJ 198830
Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2001, 4/02. NCJ 192065
Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2000, 4/01. NCJ 186766
Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 1999, 3/00. NCJ 179022
Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, 1997, 12/98. NCJ 173942
Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, 1996, 9/97. NCJ 160705
Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, 5/96. NCJ 160763

Survey of State Records Included in Presale Background Checks: Mental Health Records, Domestic Violence Misdemeanor Records, and Restraining Orders, 2003, 8/04. Examines the quality and accessibility of certain criminal and noncriminal records when States conduct a firearm presale background check. NCJ 206042

Weapon Use and Violent Crime, 1993-2001, 9/03. Discusses the nature and prevalence of violent crime by armed offenders, and the consequences to the victims, age 12 or older, from 1993 through 2001. NCJ 194820

Firearm Use by Offenders, 11/01. Describes firearm use of State and Federal prison inmates including types of firearms used, characteristics of inmates using firearms, why and where inmates used their firearms, and where they obtained their firearms. NCJ 189369.

Firearm Injury and Death from Crime, 1993-97 10/00 Reports on the incidence of fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries that result from crime. Most of the data presented are from the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vital Statistics and the Firearms Injury Surveillance Study which collects data on injuries treated in hospital emergency departments. NCJ 182993

Federal Firearm Offenders 1992-98: With Preliminary Data for 1999, 6/00. Describes trends associated with the prosecution of firearm offenders in U.S. district courts between 1992 and 1999. NCJ 180795

Presale Handgun Checks, the Brady Interim Period, 1994-98, 6/99. Provides a national estimate of the number of presale background checks conducted in connection with proposed firearm purchases, the number and percent of rejections, and the basis for the rejections. NCJ 175034 (Data on this subject after the Brady interim period are in Background Checks of Firearm Transfers, 1999)

Presale Handgun Checks, 1997, 6/98. NCJ 171130

Presale Handgun Checks, 1996, 9/97. NCJ 165704

Presale Firearm Checks, 2/97. NCJ 162787

Firearm Injury from Crime: Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice, 4/96. Reports available statistical information from a number of sources on fatal and nonfatal firearm injury that results from crime. NCJ 160093

Weapons Offenses and Offenders: Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice-- Selected Findings, 11/95. Presents data on how the criminal and juvenile justice systems deal with weapons offenses (violation of statutes or regulations that control deadly weapons) and offenders from arrest through incarceration. NCJ 155284

Guns Used in Crime: Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice-- Selected Findings, 7/95. Provides information from several sources about the guns used by criminals. NCJ 148201

Federal Firearms-Related Offenses: Federal Offenses and Offenders, 7/95. Notes the association between firearms involvement and an increased severity of sentence as well as a more extensive criminal history for Federal prisoners. NCJ 148950

Guns and Crime: Handgun Victimization, Firearm Self-Defense, and Firearm Theft, 5/94. Provides estimates of the extent of handgun crime in the United States through 1992, as well as estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey of thefts of firearms and the extent of firearm use for self-defense. NCJ 147003

Firearms and Crimes of Violence, 2/94. This report summarizes selected findings on trends in firearm use in serious violent crime, based on FBI data on homicide, BJS data on victimization and inmate firearm use, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data on firearm ownership by high school students. NCJ 146844

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Also by BJS staff

DeFrances, Carol J. and Steven K. Smith, "Federal-State relations in gun control: The 1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 24, Summer 1994, pp. 69-82.

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Related sites

From BJS:

Other relevant sites:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Gun Crime in the Age Group 18-20, a joint report by the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury
Centers for Disease Control

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
National Center for Health Statistics
Gun violence publications from the Office of Justice Programs

BJS home page | Top of this page

Bureau of Justice Statistics
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
Send comments to askbjs@usdoj.gov

OJP Freedom of Information Act page
Legal Policies and Disclaimers
Page last revised on March 1, 2007

Even the Brady Bunch puts out crime information; they do indeed print that the states with the least restrictive firearms laws have the lowest crime, while the states with the most restrictive firearms laws have the highest crime.

And they still can’t make the connection.

The site seems to be working today.

Here is an interesting poll about people's attitues toward gun control laws.

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In general, do you feel that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are now?

	More strict	Less strict	Kept as now	No opinion
	%	%	%	%
2008 Oct 3-5	49	8	41	2
2007 Oct 4-7	51	8	39	2
2006 Oct 9-12	56	9	33	2
2005 Oct 13-16	57	7	35	1
2004 Oct 11-14	54	11	34	1
2004 Jan 9-11	60	6	34	*
2003 Oct 6-8	55	9	36	*
2002 Oct 14-17	51	11	36	2
2001 Oct 11-14	53	8	38	1
2000 May 5-7	62	5	31	2
2000 Apr 7-9	61	7	30	2
1999 Dec 9-12	60	10	29	1
1999 Aug 3-4	66	6	27	1
1999 Jun 25-27	62	6	31	1
1999 May 23-24	65	5	28	2
1999 Apr 26-27	66	7	25	2
1999 Feb 8-9	60	9	29	2
1995 Apr 23-24 ^	62	12	24	2
1993 Dec 17-19	67	7	25	1
1993 Mar 12-14	70	4	24	2
1991 Mar 21-24	68	5	25	2
1990 Sep 10-11	78	2	17	3
* Less than 0.5%
^ Asked of half sample