Gun Density, Gun Type, and the Dallas Homicide Rate, 1980-1992
Description
This study examined the relationships among trends in
deadly gun violence, overall gun availability, and the availability of
more lethal types of guns. Using firearms confiscated by the Dallas,
Texas, police department from 1980 to 1992 as indicators of the types
of guns circulating among criminal/high-risk groups, the project
examined changes over time in Dallas' street gun arsenal and assessed
the impact these changes had upon gun violence mortality in
Dallas. The focus of the project was on the characteristics of the
guns rather than their numbers. All confiscated firearms were analyzed
and characterized according to basic weapon type and caliber
groupings. Dates of confiscation were missing from the majority of the
pre-1988 records, but by aggregating the gun data into bimonthly (Part
1) and quarterly (Part 2) time series databases, it was possible to
estimate the bimonthly and quarterly periods of confiscation for most
of the 1980-1992 records. Records that could not be assigned to
bimonthly or quarterly periods were dropped. Confiscated firearms were
grouped into basic categories based on stopping power (i.e., wounding
potential), rate of fire, and ammunition capacity. The following
measures were created for each bimonthly and quarterly period: (1)
weapons with high stopping power (large guns), (2) semiautomatic
weaponry (semis), (3) weapons combining high stopping power and a
semiautomatic firing mechanism (large semis), (4) handguns with high
stopping power (large handguns), (5) semiautomatic handguns (semi
handguns), and (6) handguns combining high stopping power and
semiautomatic firing (large semi handguns). Several violence measures
were obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Uniform
Crime Reports Supplemental Homicide Reports and Return A (or Offenses
Known and Clearances by Arrest) data files (see UNIFORM CRIME
REPORTING PROGRAM DATA [UNITED STATES]: 1975-1997 [ICPSR 9028]). These
measures were also aggregated at bimonthly and quarterly levels. Data
from the Dallas Police Department master gun property file include
total handguns, total semiautomatic handguns, total large-caliber
handguns, total large-caliber semiautomatic handguns, total shotguns,
total semiautomatic shotguns, total rifles, total semiautomatic
rifles, and total counts and total semiautomatic counts for various
calibers of handguns, shotguns, and rifles. Data that were aggregated
using the FBI data include total homicides, gun homicides, total
robberies, gun robberies, and gun aggravated assaults. The data file
also includes the year and the bimonthly or quarterly period counter.