Effects of a gun dealer's change in sales practices on the supply of guns to criminals

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bulzacchelli MT ; Vernick JS ; Webster DW
• Description:
  Licensed gun dealers are a major conduit for gun trafficking. Prior to May 1999, a single gun store sold more than half of the guns recovered from criminals in Milwaukee, WI, shortly following retail sale. On May 10, 1999, the store stopped selling small, inexpensive handguns popular with criminals, often called "Saturday night specials." The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of this gun store's changed sales practices on criminals' acquisition of new guns. We used an interrupted time-series design with comparisons to test for changes in the number of guns that police recovered from criminals within a year of retail sale following the gun dealer's new sales policy. The dealer's changed sales policy was associated with a 96% decrease in recently sold, small, inexpensive handguns use in crime in Milwaukee, a 73% decrease in crime guns recently sold by this dealer, and a 44% decrease in the flow of all new, trafficked guns to criminals in Milwaukee. The findings demonstrate the substantial impact that a single gun store's sales practices can have on the supply of new guns to criminals. Proposed anti-gun-trafficking efforts in other cities could benefit from targeting problem retail outlets. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Law Enforcement Occupational Health Public Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Gun Dealers Change In Sales Practices Gun Trafficking Humans Law-enforcement Law-enforcement-workers Public-health Saturday Night Specials Statistical-analysis
• ISSN:
  1099-3460
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  83
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037894
• Citation:
  J Urban Health 2006 Sep; 83(5):778-787
• Contact Point Address:
  Daniel W Webster, Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Pubic Health, 624 N Broadway, Room 593, Baltimore, MD 21205-1996
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  Johns Hopkins University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4a11d33d4b519baa2e8f4b9ebb3a14bc139a05a9f6605733ff4d93060c8973233cf228c4f2ab4861c98101cf41591f8423df8a9511f6cc1e6793f2e1d1b2ae8b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/191815/cdc_191815_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 251.24 KB ]