The Death Toll In spite of the pervasive nature of gun
violence, some demographic groups are
disproportionately represented in the gun
crime victim population. The 13,252 gun
homicide victims recorded in the mortality
statistics for 1997 included 5,110 who
were 15 to 24 years old. Firearm homicide2 was the second leading cause of
death for the 15- to 24-year-old group. In
the 25- to 34-year-old group, there were
3,706 deaths from gun homicide; at
younger ages (5-14), there were 284
firearm homicides. In fact, firearm homicide
was within the top 10 causes of death
for all age groups from 5 to 44 years.
Gun homicide victims are disproportionately
young and predominantly male.
According to CDC, 84 percent were male
in 1997. At ages 15 to 19 years, the gun
homicide rate for males was 8 times the
rate for females in 1997.3 The Bureau of
Justice Statistics (BJS) reports that males
of all ages were 3.2 times more likely
than females to be murdered in 1998.
Moreover, the circumstances of firearm
violence differ significantly for men and
women. In contrast to men, women are
far more likely to be killed by a spouse,
intimate acquaintance, or family member
than by a stranger.4
Firearm homicide also disproportionately
affects African-Americans. Approximately
52 percent of gun homicide victims are
African-American, even though they represent
less than 13 percent of the total
population. African-American males between the ages of 15 and 24 have the
highest firearm homicide rate of any demographic
group. Their firearm homicide
rate of 103.4 deaths per 100,000 is 10
times higher than the rate for white males
in the same age group (10.5 deaths per
100,000). In 1997, 92 percent of homicides
of young African-American men
occurred by firearms, compared to 68
percent of homicides by firearms in the
general population.5 Even though violent
crime rates, including crimes committed
with guns, have declined each year since
1993, according to Federal Bureau of
Investigation trend reports,6 guns remain
the leading cause of death for young
African-American males.7
The Nonfatal Gun Crime Victimization
For every firearm death, there are approximately
three nonfatal firearm injuries
that show up in hospital emergency
rooms. With no mechanism, such as a national
registry, to collect uniform national
data on nonfatal firearm injuries, this is,
at best, an estimate based on a sample of
hospitals.8
There may be many more non-fatal
firearm victims who do not go to
hospital emergency rooms for treatment.
Others have estimated four to six non-fatal
injuries for each gun death.9
In addition, many crime victims may be
traumatized by the presence of a gun during
a crime, whether or not the gun was
fired. According to the National Crime
Victimization Survey (NCVS) in 1998,
victimizations involving a firearm represented
23 percent of the 2.9 million violent
crimes of rape and sexual assault,
robbery, and aggravated assault. In 1998,
670,500 crime victims reported facing an
assailant with a gun.10
Secondary Victims
The number of deaths and injuries is
just a crude index of the effects of gun
violence in the United States. There is
an even greater number of secondary victims,
sometimes called covictims or survivors
of homicide. These are the parents,
children, siblings, spouses, and others
who have lost a loved one or friend to
gun homicide. In the aftermath of a
homicide, covictims must deal with law
enforcement, the medical examiner, the
press, and the court system, among others.
They may have to clean up a crime
scene, pay the homicide victim's medical
bills, and arrange for a funeral and burial.
"
It is estimated that each
homicide victim is survived
by an average of three loved
ones for whom the violent
death produces a painful and
traumatic grief." Deborah Spungen
Secondary victims also include those who
are touched by or witness gun violence in
their homes, schools, or workplaces or on
the street. In the Nation's largest public
housing projects, the damage goes well beyond the lives lost and injuries inflicted.
According to a report from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, public housing residents
are more than twice as likely as other
members of the population to suffer from
firearm victimization, one in five residents
reports feeling unsafe in his or her
neighborhood, and children show symptoms
of posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) similar to those seen in children
exposed to war or major disasters.11 This
is consistent with numerous studies finding
high rates of exposure to violence
particularly among youth in urban communities.
In one study, almost two-thirds
of high school students had witnessed a
shooting, and in another, 70 percent of
the youth ages 7 to 18 in a public housing
project had witnessed a shooting and 43
percent had seen a murder.12 Recent data
also indicate substantial exposure to
gun violence among suburban school-age
children.13
Multiple-Victim Shootings While the number of crimes committed
with firearms has been falling to levels
not seen since the mid-1980s,14 media
coverage and public awareness of gun
crime are increasing.
"
Even those who have never
encountered a gun are aware
of the widespread presence
of guns in our communities,
witness news reports of gun-related
crime, domestic murders, and high-profile
shootings at schools, churches
and other public places. The
ever-present fear that someone
we love might be killed or
injured is another form of gun
trauma."
From The Bell Campaigns
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