Firearms and Crime - Murder, Police Deaths And Injuries, Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Justifiable Homicide, Victimization

The frequency and ways in which guns are used to commit crimes is the focus of this chapter. Many of the statistics come from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the U.S. Department of Justice, 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 FBI's most recent report, for 2002, noted that 1,426,325 violent crimes (murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) were reported to law enforcement agencies, representing 494.6 such incidents per 100,000 inhabitants, a decrease of 2% the previous year.