Murder Weapons 2011

[DanTex]

13. Just to add to this...

There are two sources for gun homicide data. One is the FBI's UCR, which is based on police reports. The other is the CDC, which gets its data from morgues. Recently the CDC's numbers have come in slightly higher: for 2010, the CDC reports 11,078 gun homicides. So either the FBI is undercounting, or the CDC is overcounting, or both.

What is clear from the CDC data, though, is that, while gun homicides are down slightly, woulds from gun assaults are up, indicating that there isn't actually less gun violence, just that people who get shot are more likely to survive than they used to be, due to improvements in emergency medicine.

Rates of firearm assault injuries.

Year Number of
injuries Population Crude
Rate Age-Adjusted
Rate**
2001 41,044 284,968,955 14.40 14.11
2002 37,321 287,625,193 12.98 12.75
2003 42,505 290,107,933 14.65 14.40
2004 43,592 292,805,298 14.89 14.72
2005 50,320 295,516,599 17.03 16.92
2006 52,748 298,379,912 17.68 17.45
2007 48,676* 301,231,207 16.16 16.09
2008 56,626 304,093,966 18.62 18.57
2009 44,466 306,771,529 14.49 14.50
2010 53,738 308,745,538 17.41 17.55
2011 55,544 311,591,917 17.83 17.85

Rates of firearm homicides.

Year Number of
Deaths Population*** Crude
Rate Age-Adjusted
Rate**
2001 11,348 284,968,955 3.98 3.93
2002 11,829 287,625,193 4.11 4.07
2003 11,920 290,107,933 4.11 4.07
2004 11,624 292,805,298 3.97 3.94
2005 12,352 295,516,599 4.18 4.17
2006 12,791 298,379,912 4.29 4.27
2007 12,632 301,231,207 4.19 4.20
2008 12,179 304,093,966 4.01 4.03
2009 11,493 306,771,529 3.75 3.78
2010 11,078 308,745,538 3.59 3.62