How Many Guns Are There and Who Owns Them? - Gun Ownership And Homicide In The Home

Commentators have hotly debated the question of whether having a gun in the home will more likely result in the death of a criminal intruder or in the death of the homeowner or a family member. Although it is now more than a decade old, one of the most frequently cited studies addressing this topic is "Gun Ownership as a Risk Factor for Homicide in the Home" (New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 329, no. 15, October 7, 1993). Arthur Kellermann, M.D., and colleagues studied homicides in

FIGURE 2.2

Shelby County, Tennessee, and King County, Washington, from 1987 to 1992 and in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, from 1990 to 1992. They reported that firearms killed 50% of the victims. One-quarter (26%) were killed with knives or other sharp instruments, while the rest were bludgeoned (12%), strangled (6%), or killed by other means.

In a further study in 1998, "Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home," Kellermann reviewed the records of the police, medical examiner, emergency medical service, emergency department, and hospitals of all fatal and nonfatal shootings in three U.S. cities: Memphis, Seattle, and Galveston, Texas (The Journal of Trauma, vol. 45, no. 2, August 1998). They concluded that "guns kept in homes are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal accidental shooting, criminal assault, or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense."

In the study "In the Safety of Your Own Home" (Social Science and Medicine, vol. 50, 2000), Deborah R. Azrael and David Hemenway found that guns in the home were used far more often to intimidate and frighten family members than to protect against intruders. The study also showed that other weapons, such as baseball bats, clubs, and knives, were used far more often for protection than guns.

Elements of the Kellermann Study

REASONS FOR MURDER. Although it is dated, the 1993 New England Journal of Medicine study by Kellermann and colleagues remains an important document on homicides within the home. The study showed that approximately 80% of the victims of homicide within the home were

TABLE 2.7

Trends in gun ownership–type of firearm, 1973–2001
	Percent of adults in household with handguns	Percent of adults in household with long guns
SOURCE: Tom W. Smith, "Table 6B. Trends in Gun Ownership—Type of Firearm," in 2001 National Gun Policy Survey of the National Opinion Research Center: Research Findings, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago, December 2001, http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/online/guns01.pdf (accessed October 7, 2004)
1973	20.3	42.1
1974	20.3	40.4
1976	22.2	41.7
1977	21.3	45.8
1980	24.3	42.8
1982	22.4	41.5
1984	22.4	41.3
1985	24.2	39.5
1987	26.5	41.9
1988	24.4	35.9
1989	26.8	40.0
1990	24.9	37.3
1991	22.1	37.0
1993	26.1	36.7
1994	26.2	35.4
1996	23.7	34.8
1996	24.8	36.9
1997	24.0	31.1
1998	20.7	29.0
1998	23.1	31.9
1999	22.2	33.5
2000	20.7	27.3
2001	21.7	29.1

relatives or acquaintances. Quarrels or romantic triangles led to the deaths of 50% of the victims, while felonies accounted for 22% and drug dealing for another 8%. The rest were either murder-suicide cases or had unknown motives. In 44% of the cases, the victims attempted to defend themselves. In 5% of these cases, the victim unsuccessfully attempted to use a gun in self-defense.

DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE HOUSEHOLDS. Kellermann compared households in which a homicide took place (called "case" households) to "control" households—those in which a homicide did not take place. In twice as many instances, case households had members with previous arrest records. Violent relationships were more common in case households than in the control homes. Approximately one-third (32%) of the case subjects admitted that someone in the household had been hit or hurt in a fight in the home, while only about 6% of control households admitted to domestic-violence episodes.

ALCOHOL AND DRUGS. The researchers found a correlation between drinking and drug use and homicides in the home. While only 56% of the control household members drank alcohol, nearly three-quarters (73%) of the case households did. One-quarter of the case subjects reported alcohol-related physical fights in the home, compared with only about 3% of the control subjects. Illicit drug use in the case households occurred more often than in the control households.

GUNS IN THE HOMES. The researchers found that 45% of the homes in which a homicide occurred had at least one firearm, compared with 36% of the control group homes. Case households were 50% more likely to have a handgun, while both control and case households had similar percentages of shotguns and rifles. Case households were about twice as likely to have loaded guns, and were one-and-a-half times more likely to have guns kept unlocked than the control households.

SECURITY MEASURES. Kellermann found that home security measures and locks had little effect on the risk of home homicide. Family members and acquaintances committed most of the homicides, and they usually had easy access to the home and the weapon. The researchers concluded that a gun kept in the home is much more likely to be involved in the death of a household member than it is to be used to kill in self-defense. They also considered illicit drug use and a history of physical violence as significant risk factors.

Disagreement with the Findings

Many pro-gun advocates thought that Kellermann's 1993 study was flawed. Wayne La Pierre, executive vice president of the NRA, claimed that the study emphasized instances in which firearms were used to kill someone and that it did not analyze the 99.8% of firearm use in which no one is killed. According to La Pierre, the study did not incorporate the 1.1 million cases annually in which he claimed people successfully used firearms for protection (USA Today, October 11, 1993).

La Pierre said the study was biased because it was funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In 1996 the U.S. House of Representatives held hearings on the CDC's research methods. Testifying before Congress were several doctors representing two groups: Integrity in Research and Public Policy, and Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership. They charged that Kellermann's study and, in fact, every study published by the CDC, reached the conclusion that stricter gun control is needed. At the end of the hearings, Congress voted to prohibit the use by the CDC of taxpayers' money "to advocate or promote gun control."

Gun Ownership and Suicide

The controversy over whether ownership of a handgun increased the risk of violent death led to another study, "Mortality among Recent Purchasers of Handguns" (New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 341, no. 21, November 18, 1999). In a six-year survey, Garen J. Winte mute, M.D. (who has served as a consultant for the CDC) and colleagues observed 238,292 people who bought a handgun in California in 1991. The researchers wanted to determine whether recent buyers of handguns were at greater risk for death by suicide or homicide. They found that suicide was the leading cause of death in the first year after buying a firearm. In fact, forty-eight of the new gun owners committed suicide with a firearm during the first two weeks after the fifteen-day waiting period ended. The risk of committing suicide fell off after the first month, but within a year, 188 gun buyers had committed suicide. The researchers concluded that there is a connection between buying a handgun and the risk of suicide. The NRA counters that people wanting to commit suicide will find a way, whether guns are available or not.