Statistics for gun crime by gun owners?

[hminsky]

I am curious if there are any statistics for what the rate of gun-related crimes is committed by legal gun owners versus the population which does not legally own guns.

What I am curious is whether the rate of crimes committed using a gun is lower among legal gun owners than the general population, and in particular the population which does not have permits (both in MA and for the states which require permits).

I am fully expecting that the crime rate would actually be lower for registered gun owners, given that the very process of registering screens out convicted criminals (as well as people with hairstyles that offend the licensing authority)
but it would be nice to have some kind of hard numbers.

 

[drgrant]

The problem with such a statistic, is that in most states, statutorily
speaking, even most criminals were a "legal gun owner" up until they
commited their first crime.

Things get dicey because a lot of states don't "classify" a recovered
gun. If they have the gun, they often don't know wether it was purchased
legtimately, strawed, or stolen. Even a BATFE trace may not
solve the mystery- because in free states guns can move around
amongst residents without documentation.

So as a result, it's hard to properly quantify what constitutes a "lawful
gun owner" in a given locale. I mean hell, in most states, anyone
who is a citizen or legal resident alien (or perhaps a few other minor
qualifiers that most americans all have) and is of legal age, is, by
default "a lawful gun owner".

Now in a place like MA, where "lawful gun owners"; as a term, means
someone with an LTC, that would be a lot easier statistic to track, at least
over the state population.... eg the amount of "convictions" of LTC holders
of violent crimes, etc.

I don't think such statistics are ultimately useful. The antis will carp
and whine about even ONE misuse.

 

[LoginName]

The closest thing I can think of are stats that show the arrest rate of CCW holders compared to non-ccw holders.

As an example, these stats are for Texas...

http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=6

"In an unpublished report, engineering statistician William Sturdevant found that concealed carry licensees had arrest rates far lower than the general population for every category of crime. For instance:

** Licensees were 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for violent offenses than the general public--127 per 100,000 population versus 730 per 100,000.

** Licensees were 13.5 times less likely to be arrested for nonviolent offenses than the general public--386 per 100,000 population versus 5,212 per 100,000.

** Further, the general public is 1.4 times more likely to be arrested for murder than licensees, and no licensee had been arrested for negligent manslaughter".

VPC link (spin) on the same subject...

http://www.vpc.org/press/9801tex.htm

 

[Thor67]

There aren't a lot of statistics tracked for this data.

Keep in mind that legally owning a firearm is difficult in most states. Even for RTC states. Most states subject legal gun owners to a wide variety of regulations in order to get a gun: criminal background check, domestic violence reports/restraining orders, and more. Not to mention places you can and cannot legally carry once licensed.

Legal gun owners are probably the most law abiding group of people in the country.

The florida statistics from the NRA website list:
Florida reports its permit statistics statewide (most RTC states do not) and is the only state that reports permit revocations due to gun crimes by permit-holders. To date, Florida has issued 1,136,496 permits, and revoked 157 (0.014%) due to gun crimes by permit-holders.

I also found it interesting that the National Chiefs of Police Association's latest survey shows that 92.4% of all all chiefs favor legal firearms ownership for sporting OR personal protection purposes.

Here's the link:
http://www.aphf.org/surveyresults.pdf

 

[KMaurer]

Keep in mind that legally owning a firearm is difficult in most states. Even for RTC states. Most states subject legal gun owners to a wide variety of regulations in order to get a gun: criminal background check, domestic violence reports/restraining orders, and more. Not to mention places you can and cannot legally carry once licensed.

While one may have to jump through a lot of hoops to get a concealed carry licence in most states, simply purchasing a handgun is considerable easier, and purchasing long guns is easier still. In most states the only thing one needs to do is fill out the 4473 and pass the NICS. When I lived in California, before the current regime took over the legislature, any adult could walk into a gun store, fill our the 4473, show a drivers license, purchase any non-NFA rifle or shotgun in the place (or as many as he or she could afford) and carry it/them out the door. The only difference for a handgun was to wait 15 days before carrying it/them out. With some variations (particular with respect to handguns) that's still the way it is in most states.

Ken