Highlights
Nine percent of violent crimes involve firearms per the USDOJ. Nonfatal firearm violence has dropped considerably. 400 million Americans own firearms. Support for a ban on handguns in the U.S. has fallen to a near-record low.
Podcasts of this article are available on Spotify or YouTube (links below).
Is it time to limit our discussions on banning handguns and move on to offender accountability? Firearms offenders released from prison recidivate at a much higher rate than all other offenders.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention and Statistics for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public Affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former police officer. Retired federal senior spokesperson.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Produced successful state anti-crime media campaigns.
Thirty-five years of directing award-winning (50+) public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed thousands of times by every national news outlet, often with a focus on crime statistics and research. Created the first state and federal podcasting series. Produced a unique and emulated style of government proactive public relations.
Certificate of Advanced Study-The Johns Hopkins University.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
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Opinion
See video podcasts of this article on Spotify or YouTube.
Gun control is not my favorite topic to write about. Millions of Americans fervently believe that gun control is in our best interest. Millions more do not.
But the overwhelming number of violent crimes do not involve firearms and when they do, it’s 9 percent (the offender possessed, showed, or used a firearm–the vast majority were handguns) per the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice. The majority of mass and school shootings involve handguns per USDOJ and Secret Service research.
We have a new Gallup poll (below) indicating that the great majority of Americans do not support controls over handguns.
The emphasis on gun control is thought by many to be interfering with crime control efforts. The thought is that people using an inanimate object to commit a crime is the user’s responsibility. We don’t ban vehicles yet they are routinely used during crime. Great Britain banned most gun ownership yet they can have a higher rate of violent crime than the US. Knife crime is prevalent in Great Britain yet they don’t ban knives. Alcohol is commonly associated with violence yet sprits are legal.
There are now 400 million firearms in private hands in the United States. Collectively, the horse seems to have left the proverbial barn. Even if we banned handgun ownership, it would take multiple decades for it to have an impact. However, the Second Amendment to the US Constitution and numerous existing court rulings would stop the effort.
Potential Solutions?
But gun use by criminals is still a major problem. Does the gun control effort suck the oxygen from the room? Can our crime control efforts be more effective?
For example, we need better data on mass shooters; the existing literature describes mass shooters as being similar to most criminals for several key issues.
Beyond mass shootings, we know who the likely shooters are; they are often the intended victims (and their associates) of prior shooting events
Creating lists of potential violent criminals who are likely to use firearms is met with resistance by the ACLU and others. Is there a way to compile constitutional lists of potentially dangerous people? Note that the ACLU objected to drone use by law enforcement but it’s now commonplace.
Can the Project Safe Neighborhoods model be used to contact likely shooters and offer them resources to exit violence (or enhanced prosecution if they don’t)?
Can we fund and resource violent crime task forces to analyze violent criminals likely to use firearms and link them to existing crimes? Can parole and probation agencies do the same? Can parole and probation agencies put likely shooters on 24-365 GPS tracking if there is sufficient evidence that they are involved in firearm violence?
Can we create a media campaign for high-violence areas seeking the public’s help in identifying current or potential shooters?
For youthful offenders, can we contact parents and hold them responsible for a 14-year-old being on the streets at 3:00 a.m.?
Violent firearm users can be targeted for longer prison sentences (see conclusion).
Should there be a greater emphasis on juveniles using firearms? Media reports from throughout the country indicate that this is a growing problem.
Example Of The Gun Violence Problem And Juveniles
Cleveland.Com: Statewide, more youths have been incarcerated for gun possession in the post-COVID era than before.
Last year, prosecutors filed 844 felony charges involving firearms in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. In 2003, they brought just 185. Locally, the number of firearm charges against juveniles has increased alongside an increase in the number of youths charged in homicides.
Last year, Cuyahoga County prosecutors charged 41 juveniles with murder, which is more than any year since 2010, according to records from the county prosecutor’s office.
As the pandemic subsided, firearm deaths rose to be the No. 1 cause of death for youths in America.
COVID-19 not only took a toll on the mental health of young people, but it also came at a time when more Americans decided to purchase a firearm, including millions who had never owned guns before, according to a 2021 article in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
A peer-reviewed study published in the journal Pediatrics found that more youths overall were carrying handguns between 2002 to 2019. It also found that white youths who were middle class or wealthier were increasingly likely to say they had carried a handgun in the last year. Black youths were less likely in 2019 than in 2002 to say they had carried a gun in the last year, according to the study.
Firearm-Related Death Is More Acute For Black and Latino Men Than Deployed U.S. Soldiers
A recent study demonstrates that the risk of firearm-related death or injury is more acute for young Black and Latino men who live in certain zip codes than for U.S. soldiers who were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Black Americans are 12 times as likely as White Americans to die by firearm homicide.
But Overall, Is There An Explosion of Firearm Violence?
No. Per the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2023, the rate of nonfatal firearm violence was 2.0 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older, down 72% from 7.3 per 1,000 in 1993. There are far more nonfatal shootings than homicides.
Per Gallup, Support For A Ban On Handguns In The U.S. Has Dropped To A Near-Record Low
Americans continue to oppose an outright ban on handgun possession. In fact, the 20% of U.S. adults who would favor a law banning the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons, is down seven percentage points from last year and statistically tied with the 19% record low in the 65-year trend.
But with growing crime in Canada, that country just expanded its list of prohibited firearms.
Conclusions
Violent crime increased by 44 percent in 2022 per data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Violent crime continued at a similar rate in 2023 (latest data) so the nation’s largest increase in violence essentially continues per the USDOJ’s National Crime Victimization Survey.
Crimes reported to law enforcement are down (especially homicides) but the overwhelming majority of what we call crime is not reported to law enforcement and the FBI.
Per Gallup, fear of crime is at record highs. The move from urban areas continues (but not at the rate during the pandemic).
As stated, there are huge increases in firearm ownership along with record growth in security devices purchased. Americans are obviously concerned about crime through their beliefs and actions. The question is how to address gun violence and the 9 percent of violent crimes involving firearms.
Per Gallup, the majority of Americans continue to favor stricter gun laws and an assault weapons ban in the U.S., but the public remains largely opposed to a ban on handguns. A stable 56% of U.S. adults support stricter laws covering the sale of firearms in general, while 33% prefer the laws be kept as they are now and 10% want them to be less strict.
But if we ban assault weapons, can they easily be replaced with semiautomatic hunting rifles with multiple magazines? The answer is yes.
Can red flag laws that involve a court order to remove firearms from someone mentally ill or criminal be effective? Possibly, but they are very labor intensive while concurrently, we have lost thousands of police officers. It would be a massive undertaking with far fewer police officers.
Some forms of gun control may have merit for the 56% of U.S. adults who support stricter laws. A waiting period or banning those under 21 from purchases or mandates to lock and secure firearms in the home or increases in funding for improving the quality of data for background checks or banning ghost guns and parts or requiring background checks for all firearm purchases “may” have a positive impact. I say this while understanding that most criminals possess firearms through illegal means.
However, the fundamental question is whether the intense amount of time and effort regarding restricting firearm ownership could be counterproductive when noting that only 9 percent of violent crimes involve firearms. The courts often seem to rule in favor of firearm possession advocates. There are approximately 400 million firearms in private hands.
Yes, if my child was killed or injured via a firearm-related crime, then maybe I would feel differently.
But we have a problem with violence in the United States and per Great Britain’s experience, a ban on firearms doesn’t necessarily mean lower rates of violence. Knife crime is a significant issue in Great Britain.
Maybe it’s time to place our emphasis on those who use firearms while committing violent crimes. Maybe it’s time to hold them responsible for their acts.
Per the US Sentencing Commission, firearms offenders released from prison recidivate at a higher rate than all other offenders. Over two-thirds (69.0%) of firearms offenders were rearrested for a new crime during the eight-year follow-up period compared to less than half of all other offenders (45.1%). Firearm offenders and all other offenders who recidivated were rearrested for similar crimes.
Violent offenders recidivate at a higher rate than non-violent offenders. Over an eight-year follow-up period, nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of violent offenders released in 2010 were rearrested, compared to more than one-third (38.4%) of non-violent offenders.
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