San Francisco Gun Ban Ignores Reality
Justice Department Survey Finds Guns Used In Fewer Violent Crimes
December 30, 2004
San Francisco political leaders recently proposed a complete ban on private gun ownership in addition to a city ordinance prohibiting gun-related activities such as gun shows. This anti-gun move is a result of the city's high homicide rate, according to officials. Yet, there are many crime experts who believe San Francisco's zeal for disarming law-abiding citizens is based on a myth: that gun ownership causes violent crime.
When the FBI's annual crime report -- the Uniform Crime Report or UCR -- revealed that only 26% of violent crimes involved a firearm, the naysayers in the news media and anti-gun lobby denigrated the statistics and continued their opposition to citizen gun ownership. Yet the US Department of Justice's annual crime survey appears to confirm the FBI's findings. In fact, the DoJ's figures were even lower for gun-related violence than the FBI's.
The FBI Uniform Crime Report is based on voluntary reports obtained from local police agencies, while the National Crime Victimization Survey is based on interviews with actual crime victims.
Estimates from the DoJ's National Crime Victimization Survey indicate that between 1993 and 2001 approximately 26% of the average annual 8.9 million violent victimizations were committed by offenders armed with a weapon. About 10%, or 846,950 victimizations each year, involved a firearm.
>From 1993 through 2001 violent crime declined 54%; weapon violence went down 59%; and firearm violence, 63%.
Males, blacks and Hispanics, the young, and those with the lowest annual household income were more vulnerable to weapon violence in general and firearm violence in particular than their respective counterparts.
For the 9-year period beginning with 1993, 23% of white victims of violence and 36% of black victims were victims of violence involving an offender armed with a weapon. About 7% of white victims and 17% of black victims were involved in incidents in which an offender was armed with a gun.
Forty-five percent of all violence with a weapon involved victims between ages 25 and 49, and 38% involved victims between ages 15 and 24.
Blacks were about 9 times more likely than whites to be victims of gun-related homicides (25 per 100,000 blacks age 12 or older versus 3 per 100,000 whites.)
While victimizations involving knives comprised 6% of all violent crimes resulting in an injury, these victimizations accounted for about 24% of all serious injuries experienced by crime victims.
The most common locales for armed violence and gun violence were the streets: those away from the victim' home (30% of violence with a weapon and 35% of gun violence) and those at or near the victim's home (27% of armed violence and 25% of gun violence).
Most violence involving a weapon and most firearm violence occurred while the victims were engaged in leisure activities away from home (27% and 27%)and commuting to work (23% and 25%,respectively).
Weapon use varied by type of crime. Offenders had weapons in about half of robberies, a fourth of assaults, and atwelfth of rapes/sexual assaults.
