|
|
FIREARMS AND FIREARM-RELATED VIOLENCE
IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY
- Firearms in Los Angeles County kill approximately three
people everyday.
- California Dept of Health Service, PHIS Death Data
2000
- In Los Angeles County, more people less than 35 years
of age are killed by firearms than die from AIDS and motor
vehicle crashes combined.
- California Dept of Health Services, IVPP/PHIS Death
Data 2000
- In 2000, there were 1165 firearm related deaths in Los
Angeles County of which 815 (70%) were homicides.
- California Dept of Health Service, IVPP/PHIS Death
Data 2000
- There were 314 firearm-related suicides in LA County
in 2000.
- LA County Dept of the Coroner, 2000
- There were 662 Federal Firearm Licenses (FFL) operating
in LA County as of June 2002. Although the majority
of these were licensed firearm dealers, 17 were licensed
to manufacture ammunition for firearms and 30 were licensed
to manufacture firearms.
- US Dept of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, 2002
- In 1999, approximately 2,000 firearm injury victims were
admitted to LA County trauma centers. The medical
charges to treat these victims exceeded $58 million with
an average charge of $30,270.
- California Dept of Health Service, IVPP/PHIS Death Data
2000
- African American males are at greatest risk of becoming
a victim of a firearm related hospitalization or death.
- California Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development, Hospital Discharge Data, 2000
- The mortality rate from firearms in LA County over the
past ten years has consistently remained higher than California
and the United States.
- California Dept of Health Service, IVPP/PHIS Death
Data 2000
- Homicide rates from firearms in LA County over the past
ten years have consistently remained higher than California
and the United States.
- US Dept of Health Services, CDC, 2002
- Persons between 15 and 24 years of age are at the greatest
risk of becoming involved in a firearm related incident.
- California Dept of Health Service, IVPP/PHIS Death
Data 2000
- In 26% of violent crimes in the US, a weapon was
present
- Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,
2002
- Offenders had or used a weapon in 55% of all robberies,
compared with 7% of all rapes/sexual assaults in 2001 in
the US.
- Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,
2002
- According to the National Crime Victimization Survey
(NCVS) in 2000, 533,470 victims of serious violent crimes
(rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault)
stated that they faced an offender with a firearm.
- Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,
2002
- Victimizations involving a firearm represented 8% of
the 6.3 million violent crimes of rape and sexual assault,
robbery, and aggravated and simple assault.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey
2000
- The FBI's Crime Report in the United States estimated
that 66% of the 15,517 murders in 2000 were committed with
firearms.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey
2000
- The number of gunshot wounds from assaults treated in
hospital emergency departments in the US fell from 64,100
in 1993 to 39,400 in 1997, a 39% decline.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey
2000
- According to the 1997 Survey of State Prison Inmates
in the US, among those possessing a gun, the source of the
gun was 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%
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey
2000
- 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.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey
2000
- 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.
- US Dept of Justice, National Crime Victimization Survey
2000
- Nearly 16 children a day died in 1997 as a result of
a firearms homicide, suicide or unintentional shooting in
the US.
- Children’s Defense Fund, 1998
- Nearly 3 of every 5 suicides in 1999 (57%) were committed
with a firearm in the US
- CDC 2002
- Among persons aged 15-19 years, firearm related suicides
accounted for more than 60% of the increase in the overall
rate of suicide from 1980-1997 in the US
- CDC 2002
- From January through June 1999, a total of 213,468 handguns
and long guns (rifles and shotguns) were sold by firearms
dealers in California. This represents a 30.9 percent increase
over the 163,060 sold from January through June 1998. Sales
of long guns increased 50.7 percent, from 66,764 sold in
the first six months of 1998 to 100,593 sold in the first
six months of 1999. Handgun sales increased 17.2 percent,
from 96,296 sold in 1998 to 112,875 sold in 1999
- US Department of Justice 1999 US Dept of Justice,
National Crime Victimization Survey 2000
- 28% of gun-owning households with children do not always
keep guns locked in a secure place in the US.
- Peter Hart Research Associates, "Americans’ Attitudes
on Children’s Access to Guns: A National Poll for Common
Sense about Kids and Guns," July 1999.
- Of gun-owning households with children, one quarter only
"occasionally" lock and store the bullets in a
separate place from the gun in the US.
- Peter Hart Research Associates, "Americans’ Attitudes
on Children’s Access to Guns: A National Poll for Common
Sense about Kids and Guns," July 1999.
- 60% of high school boys and 31% of middle school boys
said they could get a gun if they wanted to in the US.
- Josephson Institute of Ethics, "2000 Report Card:
The Ethics of American Youth," April 2001.
- 6% of high school students said they had carried a gun
in the last 30 days in the US.
- Hamilton Fish Institute, "Weapon Carrying, Gun
Carrying, and Fighting among U.S. High School Students,"
November 1999.
-
- Over 30% of victims who were working during violent victimization
faced armed offenders (almost a third of these offenders
had a handgun). In California, 80% of the work-related
homicides were the result of firearms.
- Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, 1997
|
|
|
