U.S. Department of Justice ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 5 P.M. EST BJS SUNDAY, MAY 15, 1994 202-307-0784 RECORD NUMBER OF HANDGUN CRIMES--NEARS ONE MILLION A YEAR WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The number of non-fatal crimes committed with a handgun rose to a record level during 1992, the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. Handguns were used in an estimated 917,500 non-fatal crimes, almost 50 percent more than the average for the previous five years. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported an additional 13,200 handgun homicides during the same year, a 24 percent increase over the five-year average. Offenders armed with handguns committed one in every eight violent crimes--rape, robbery and assault--measured by BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey. The other violent crime victims were attacked or threatened by offenders who were either unarmed or were armed with such weapons as rocks, sticks, knives or other types of firearms. The most common violent crime, simple assault, by definition does not involve the use of a weapon. In contrast to the record high handgun crime rate (4.5 per 1,000 inhabitants 12 years old or older), the 1992 rate for all non-fatal violent crime (35 per 1,000) was below the 1981 peak for the past two decades (39 per 1,000 residents), which means that a growing percentage of violent crimes involves handguns. Young black males are the most vulnerable to handgun crime. Among 16-to-19-year-olds, the most victimized age group, the rate for black males was four times higher than the rate for white males. The average annual rates of non-fatal crimes committed with handguns per 1,000 persons during the years 1987 through 1992 by race and age were as follows: Males Females Victim's age White Black White Black 12-15 3.1 14.1 2.1 4.7 16-19 9.5 39.7 3.6 13.4 20-24 9.2 29.4 3.5 9.1 25-34 4.9 12.3 2.1 9.0 35-49 2.7 8.7 1.4 3.3 50-64 1.2 3.5 0.7 1.6 65 or older 0.6 3.7 0.2 2.3 The data are from the federal government's second largest household survey, which interviews people 12 years old and older throughout the country about their experiences with crime and criminal offenders. Because it includes only information obtained from victims' responses to questions, it obtains no homicide data. During the 1987-1992 period, offenders fired their weapons in 17 percent of all non-fatal handgun crimes, missing the victim four out of five times. In 3 percent of the non-fatal crimes committed with handguns, about 21,000 annually, the victim was wounded. In addition, an average 11,100 were killed each year. During the same period an estimated annual average of 62,000 violent crime victims (approximately 1 percent of all violent crime victims) used a firearm in an effort to defend themselves. In addition, an annual average of about 20,000 victims of theft, household burglary or motor vehicle theft attempted to defend their property with guns. In most cases victims defending themselves with firearms were confronted by unarmed offenders or those armed with weapons other than firearms. During the six-year period, about one in three armed victims faced an armed offender. BJS estimated that more than 340,000 crimes annually involved firearm thefts. During the period almost two-thirds of such losses occurred during household burglaries and almost one- third in larcenies. The survey does not report on thefts or burglaries from stores or other businesses. Single copies of the BJS crime data brief, "Guns and Crime: Handgun Crime Victimization, Firearm Self-Defense, and Firearm Theft" (NCJ-147003), as well as other BJS statistical reports may be obtained from the BJS Clearinghouse, Box 179, Annapolis Junction, Maryland 20701-0179. The telephone number is 1-800-732-3277. Fax orders (include title, NCJ number, name, address) to 410-792-4358. # # # 94-21 After hours contact: Stu Smith 301-983-9354 ----------- Creation System Name : NCJRS BBS This system is : NCJRS BBS This user is : bjs topic no 93 Topic Name : BJS Press Releases current date Tue Nov 21 07:13:03 1995 Entry # : 274 prepared Jan 22 14:37:21 1995 Author : Admin Subject :Guns and Crime Read by : ken : at Fri Feb 3 09:29:02 1995 bobsmallfoot : at Thu Mar 2 23:25:40 1995 dwebster : at Fri Mar 3 03:17:15 1995 tthomp : at Sun Mar 5 04:06:26 1995 Admin : at Mon Mar 6 14:15:28 1995 bscheib : at Wed Mar 8 17:42:31 1995 jly : at Sat Mar 11 06:19:09 1995 mredecke : at Mon Mar 13 08:51:12 1995 l : at Wed Mar 15 23:25:06 1995 liwanski : at Tue Mar 21 12:36:38 1995 mnplanning : at Tue Mar 28 07:13:46 1995 joenemec : at Tue Apr 4 12:11:06 1995 jduffus : at Thu Apr 13 11:35:58 1995 jomohundro : at Wed Apr 26 08:56:35 1995 rjlibm : at Tue May 2 10:28:21 1995 sbastoky : at Tue May 16 09:09:31 1995 complex : at Wed May 17 22:14:03 1995 charrelson : at Fri May 19 05:41:43 1995 pbudolfson : at Mon May 22 21:43:36 1995 sgarber : at Wed Jun 28 14:28:33 1995 rvoden : at Wed Jul 12 09:58:11 1995 ktomono : at Thu Jul 13 19:55:33 1995 jsprinkles : at Fri Jul 14 09:04:29 1995 lmankin : at Mon Jul 17 12:59:48 1995 lsvart : at Wed Jul 19 20:05:31 1995 dbarreau : at Tue Jul 25 10:49:04 1995 jlw : at Wed Jul 26 15:18:33 1995 jsimons : at Thu Jul 27 13:27:25 1995 broberts : at Fri Sep 1 14:48:44 1995 1 : at Thu Sep 14 20:05:44 1995 jhakala : at Sun Oct 1 06:29:15 1995 jjosselyn : at Mon Oct 16 23:42:06 1995 pattyt : at Fri Oct 20 21:35:44 1995 stalpas : at Tue Oct 31 13:32:04 1995 rtrtsch : at Mon Nov 6 11:11:07 1995 bjs : at Tue Nov 21 07:11:12 1995 Owning Topic : T=BJS Press Releases - 93 E= 274 Type = e