Gun Violence in the United States: A Public Health Epidemic

Abstract

Guns in America are not distributed evenly and once a firearm is purchased it is often retained by the owner for a substantial time due to its long-lasting design. It is estimated that about 34 million individuals own 195 million guns (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, 2000). Estimates of private gun ownership are difficult to determine as there are few states that require firearm registration. There are two proxy methods that are commonly utilized to determine such estimates. Sales for the most widely sold gun magazine, Guns and Ammo, has been used to estimate gun ownership as well as the fraction of suicides in which a gun was involved (Duggan, 2001). Gun ownership seemed to peak in the early 1970’s and since 1973 has declined. This decline would contradict the popular notion that gun ownership is escalating and that increased gun ownership is necessary to counteract the possibility of home invasion. While gun ownership has declined, handgun ownership has increased compared to shotguns and rifles (Blendon et al., 1996). Currently, an estimated 35% of households have at least one gun (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Guns, 2000). Approximately, one in about four households contains a handgun (Smith, 2001).