ON GUN CONTROL
by Gina Guest

Many issues, including violence against women, frequently generate more emotion than reasoned response, especially among those who want to minimize or obscure the problem.  And one of the tactics most often used is to imply that there are so many contradictory studies or statistics that no conclusion can be reached and all figures are equally suspect.

While the statistics I've seen agree with the commonly-made statement that the rate of accidental death caused by firearms is at an all time low, that "low" still takes the life of about 1,600 people per year and injures tens of thousands more.  

It's true that more children accidentally drown in swimming pools than are accidentally killed by guns.

But while we might not "blame" the swimming pool, bathtub or lighter for an accidental death, we would certainly hold the owner and/or manufacturer responsible if their negligence or defective design were responsible for the accident.  (Which raises the question of how any death or injury by a firearm can be considered "accidental" when the purpose for which the firearm is designed is to cause death or injury.)

There is nothing "superstitious or totemic" to the power we attach to a bullet -- it is designed to maim or kill and in that it differs from all other "lifeless, willess objects" other than explosive, chemical and biological weapons.  Recognition of that fact is not predicated upon "personal like or dislike" any more than recognizing that the purpose of a swimming pool is recreational is predicated on whether one personally enjoys or dislikes swimming.

While there is tremendous debate about the meaning and implications of the figures about firearms deaths and injuries in the United States, there is no substantial disagreement on the numbers themselves:

• In 1995 a firearm was the weapon used in about 7 out of 10 murders in the United States.  In 1994, there were 39,720 firearm-related deaths in the United States; 13,593 people were murdered with handguns; 20,540 committed suicide by using firearms; 1,610 people were killed accidentally with firearms; and the remaining 3,977 died from other firearm-related incidents including self-defense; justifiable use of force by a law enforcement officer; and homicide using a firearm other than a handgun.  About 1.3 million violent crimes were reported which included the use of firearm, more than 86% of them involved a handgun.
  
  
• More U.S. teens aged 15-19 die of gunshot wounds than of all natural causes combined, and firearms are involved in 65% of all suicides among persons under the age of 25.
  
  
• An estimated 150,000 people are treated annually in U.S. hospital emergency units for nonfatal gun-related injuries and approximately 80,000 require admission for in-patient care. Cost estimates range from $1.4 billion to $4.0 billion annually in direct medical costs and $19 billion annually in indirect costs, such as lost future earnings, permanent disability, etc.  An estimated 86% of gun shot victims receiving medical treatment in hospital emergency units are uninsured or insured by Medicaid, so tax payers bear most of the cost of their medical care.
  
  
• The F.B.I.'s stolen gun file contains over 2 million reports, 60% of which are reports of stolen handguns, although handguns represent only one third of all firearms privately owned in the U.S.

Opponents of gun control maintain that handguns are a major deterrent to crime and save far more law abiding citizens from death and injury at the hands of criminals than are victimized by the use of guns.  Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, claim that armed potential victims kill between 2,000 and 3,000 criminals and wound an additional 9,000 to 17,000.

Supporters of gun control maintain that the availability of handguns increases the likelihood that a crime will be committed on impulse, or while someone is intoxicated or under emotional stress as well as increasing the likelihood of death and serious injury for victims of crime.  They also maintain that an assailant's use of a gun makes it less likely that the victim of an assault, robbery or rape will attempt to resist or escape.

Opponents of gun control maintain that most victims of crimes involving handguns have a criminal record or are engaged in a criminal or hazardous lifestyle and that persons who commit suicide with a handgun would commit suicide by another method if a gun was not available.

Supporters of gun control maintain that while the majority of gunshot victims are engaged in a crime or criminal lifestyle a substantial minority are truly innocent victims.  They point out that in virtually all cases where a deranged gunman goes on a shooting spree the victims are both innocent and would be alive and uninjured had the shooter not had access to a gun. Moreover while they concede that some people who commit suicide with a gun would attempt to kill themselves by other means, that argue that suicides who use a gun are more likely to succeed than those who use other means and are more likely to attempt suicide impulsively in response to a single traumatic incident or sudden emotional distress.

While both sides argue vehemently over specific studies and numbers, even opponents of gun control concede that there is some evidence that having a gun in the home increases the risk of accidental gunshot injury and injury or death from being shot by a family member, although they maintain that gun control supporters greatly inflate the increased risk.  They also argue that the gun owner's ability to deter or disable intruders more than compensates for the risk involved.

In summary the issue of guns in our society is a complex one that demands thoughtful dialog.

An opponent of gun control asks us to consider the case of a friend and recent co-worker living in fear because the judge issued a mutual restraining order barring her and her abusive spouse from possessing a firearm.

He points out that, "If he comes for her, and there is every chance that he will, she will have to fight a bigger, stronger, more experienced, and violent person barehanded for her life."  He challenges us to, "tell her that she and her kids are in more danger from an inanimate thing than from him."

While I certainly understand this fear for her, and the frustration with a system that so often fails to protect abused women, statistically the danger to this woman and her children is increased because her abuser is likely to have easy access to a firearm and unlikely to comply with any part of the restraining order including it's prohibition against firearms.

The implication that she would be better able to defend herself if she had a gun isn't supported by the thousands of battered women I've spoken with and read about. Frequently the abusive spouse stalks and shoots them from a distance.  In many other cases he appears to simply materialize and attacks so quickly that they are unable to flee or shoot.  In other cases where the woman has a gun or other weapon he uses a child as a shield to prevent her from defending herself.

If she does defend herself with a gun she stands a good chance of losing her children (quite possibly to him should she merely wound him) and spending years in jail.  Assuming she wounds or kills him and avoids going to jail, she is reinforcing the message he has given their children -- that violence is an acceptable way to solve one's problems.  While either outcome may be better than her being killed by him I think we have to demand something more helpful and hopeful for her and her children.

Gina Guest, 1998

Sources:

Guns Used in Crime: Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice-Selected Findings. No. 5. Rockville, MD: U.S. Dept of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics: 1995. Publication no. NCJ-148201.

Cook PJ, Ludwig J. Guns in America: National Survey of Private Ownership and Use of Firearms. National Institute of Justice Research in Brief. Rockville, MD: U.S. Dept of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice; 1997. Common Core of Data [public-use database]. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education; 1994.

U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Sourcebook of Criminal Statistics-1994. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept of Justice; 1995.

Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics of the National Center for Health Statistics. Rockville, MD: U.S. Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Health Resources Administration; 1994;242:1-12.

Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice. Handguns used in more than one million violent crimes; the use of semi-automatic guns in murders is increasing. Press release, July 9, 1995.

Ash P, Kellermann AL, Fuqua-Whitley D, Johnson A. Gun acquisition and use by juvenile offenders. JAMA. 1996;275:1754-8.

Suicide among children, adolescents, and young adults-United States. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1995;44:289-91.

Annest JL, Mercy JA, Gibson DR, Ryan GW. National estimates of nonfatal firearm-related injuries. Beyond the tip of the iceberg, JAMA. 1995;273:1749-54.

Rice DR, MacKenzie EJ. Cost of Injury in the United States: A Report to Congress. San Francisco: Institute for Health and Aging, University of California; Baltimore, MD: Injury Prevention Center, Johns Hopkins University; 1989.

Kizer KW, Vassar MJ, Harry RL, Layton KD. Hospitalization charges, costs, and income for firearm-related injuries at a university trauma center. JAMA. 1995;273:1768-73.

Max W, Rice DP. Shooting in the dark: estimating the costs of firearm injuries. Health Aff (Millwood). 1993;12:171-85.

Headden S. Guns, money and medicine. U.S. News & World Report. 1 July 1996.

General Accounting Office. Trauma Care: Lifesaving System Threatened by Unreimbursed Costs and Other Factors. Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Health for Families and the Uninsured, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. Washington, DC: General Accounting Office; 1991. Publication no. GAO/HRD-91-57.]