Government Study: Gun-Related Homicides Down 39 Percent

Government Study: Gun-Related Homicides Down 39 Percent

BJS

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
May 7, 2013 1:37 pm

A new federal government study says gun-related homicides fell 39 percent between 1993 and 2011, the Associated Press reports:

The government says firearm-related homicides have fallen 39 percent since the mid-1990s, from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011. [...]
The report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics also found that non-fatal firearm crimes have declined 69 percent since the mid-1990s, from 1.5 million in 1993 to 467,300 in 2011.
The trend in firearm-related homicides is part of a broad nationwide decline in violent crime, which has fallen by 65 percent in that period, from 16.8 million in 1963 to 5.8 million in 2011.

According to the study, approximately 70 percent of homicides in 2011 were committed with a firearm; more than 70 percent of the weapons used to commit homicides that year were handguns.
The study also found that among state prison inmates in 2004 who had a gun at the time of their offense, less than 1 percent bought those weapons at a gun show; 40 percent obtained the weapons illegally.