Privately-Owned Firearms In U.S: More than 200 million total firearms, including 65-70 million handguns.(BATF)
Firearms Owners In U.S: 60-65 million overall, including 30-35 million handgun owners, or nearly half of U.S. households. Firearms ownership in Utah is reported at about 65-70% of households statewide, varies by location.(BATF, Utah State Health Department and other estimates)
Firearms Owners Having Used a Gun for Self Defense In U.S: 11% of all individuals owning firearms, and 13% of those owning handguns. Use of a firearm is proven as the most effective method for a victim to deter, defend against and/or avoid injury from a violent criminal assault, exceeding both cooperation with assailant and the use of any other instrument or method of self defense.(FBI, US DoJ, Bureau of Justice Stats, Crime Victimization Survey)
Number Of Protective Uses Of Firearms In U.S: Projected at a minimum of 2.5 million cases annually, equal to 1% of total U.S. population each year. Criminal assailants are killed by their victims or others in only about 0.1%, and wounded in only about 1.0% of incidents as described above. Most such crimes are prevented by mere presence of a firearm in the hands of an intended victim.(Dr. Gary Kleck, PhD, Florida State University, Targeting Guns, 1998)
Nationally: 31 of 50 states currently have 'shall issue' laws allowing private citizens the ability to legally carry a concealed firearm for lawful self defense. Half of U.S. population currently lives in 'shall issue' states. States with 'shall issue' CCW laws enjoy 18% overall lower violent crime rates than those states without such 'shall issue' CCW laws. Overall, homicide rates are 21% lower, robbery rates 33% lower, and aggravated assaults 11% lower in the 'shall issue' states than in 'non-issue' states.(FBI UCR)
National studies conclude such 'shall issue' laws decrease crime rates, deter violent criminal behavior, and do not contribute to an increase in firearm accident rates. If the 'non-issue' states had adopted 'shall issue' laws in 1992, projections indicate 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes and 60,000+ aggravated assaults would have been avoided in those states each year. The estimated economic benefit to society from such reduced crime rates, reduced victim injury costs and other savings would be a minimum of $6.214 billion dollars annually. A CCW permit holder is statistically less likely to be arrested or involved in acts of violence or other criminal behavior than a member of the general population.(Lott and Mustard, Crime, Deterrence and Right to Carry Concealed Handguns, University of Chicago study 1997.)
In Utah: Utah has been a 'shall issue' state since 1995. Permits are issued by Utah DPS/BCI only after an extensive background check, fingerprinting, checking personal references and certification of the applicant's familiarity with firearms safety, firearms laws and 'use of force' laws . A history of violence, moral turpitude, substance abuse or other similar behavior will disqualify an applicant. A Utah CCW permit has been valid statewide 'without restriction' since 1986. Nearly 30,000 Utah CCW permits are currently issued, to about 3% of the eligible adults in the state. Non-residents may also be issued a CCW permit under Utah law. A valid Utah CCW permit exempts holder from Utah's Brady background check requirement at point of purchase. Utah currently honors CCW permits issued from AK, AR, AZ, HI, LA, NC, NV, OK, SC, TN and TX. Utah CCW permits are currently valid in AK, AR, AZ, ID, IN, KY, MI, OK and WY. (DPS/BCI, Ut.Code 53-5-701 to 53-5-711)
Since 1995, no discernible, documented pattern of abuse has developed among Utah's nearly 30,000 CCW permit holders. No Utah CCW permit holder is currently known to have been convicted of a serious crime of violence in which their concealed firearm was used.(DPS/BCI)
Annual Criminal Abuse of Firearms Nationally: Less than 0.2% of all firearms, and less than 0.4% of all handguns. More than 99.8% of all guns, and 99.6% of all handguns are NOT used in criminal activity in any given year.(BATF, FBI)
Chance of Any Single Individual Being a Victim of Violent Crime In Their Lifetime: Currently about 65 to 70%, depending on age, profession, lifestyle, geographic and demographic factors.(US DoJ, FBI UCR)
U.S. Crime Rate and Incarceration: From 1960 to 1980, the number of U.S. prison inmates per 1000 violent crimes dropped from 738 to 227, and the crime rate predictably tripled. Nationally, each year more than a quarter-million felons, convicted by state courts, are not incarcerated as part of sentencing. Only 29% of convicted felons are now incarcerated, with 71% on some form of conditional release, and now on the streets. On average a imprisoned criminal will only serve one-third of their sentence before early release. The average career criminal commits more than 180 crimes per year, and thus contributes to the nearly 14 million violent and property crimes annually. On average nationwide, convicted criminals on probation or parole commit 14 murders, 48 rapes and 578 robberies daily.(US DoJ, Rand Corp, FBI UCR)
In Utah: Currently Utah has one of the lowest rates of incarceration of all the states, at only 218/100M population, compared to 433/100M nationally. The average Utah criminal actually serves only 16% of their sentence, the lowest ratio of sentence-to-time-served in the nation. Utah has the highest percentage of prisoners with prior felonies, highest percentage of parole violators and highest rate of parole recidivism of any state. Utah spends only 2.8% of state budget on corrections, compared to a 4.8% national average. Since 1993, Utah's overall index crime rate ranking has jumped from 21st to 9th among the 50 states. Utah ranks 1st in theft, 6th in property crimes, 12th in rape, 21st in burglary, 22nd in auto theft, 35th in aggravated assault, 39th in robbery and 43rd in murder nationally.(FBI UCR, Utah Bar Journal, Feb.1999)
Fatal Firearms Accidents for All Ages Annually: 1,134 nationwide in 1996. Rate of 0.4 per 100M population. Represents a roughly 90% decrease from record high in 1904. Accident rate is down by 65% since 1930, while U.S. population has doubled and number of privately-owned firearms has quadrupled. Compare to other types of fatal accidents, for all ages: Motor Vehicles 16.7/100M, Falls 4.8/100M, Poisoning 4.0/100M, Drowning 1.7/100M, Fires 1.6/100M, Choking 1.1/100M.(National Safety Council, National Center for Health Statistics, BATF, US Census)
Fatal Firearms Accidents for Children 14 and Under Annually: 138 nationwide in 1996. About 3% of all fatal accidents under age 14. Represents a 75% decrease from record high of 550 in 1975. Compared to other types of fatal accidents for children: Motor Vehicles 44%, Fires 16%, Drowning 14%, Choking 4.5%.(Nat'l Safety Council, Nat'l Center for Health Statistics)
In Utah: Average of 1 to 1.5 unintentional fatal shootings annually among those 18 and under, a number which has remained fairly constant over the last decade.(Utah State Department of Health)
Education, beginning at an early age, in firearms safety helps develop responsible attitudes toward lawful firearms ownership, and are demonstrated to be the most effective measures available for preventing firearms accidents. Foremost among such programs are those developed by the National Rifle Association of America, including Eddie Eagle and other firearms safety programs, and are used by schools, law enforcement and youth groups nationwide. NRA has nearly 40,000 certified firearms safety instructors nationwide.(NRA)
National Economic Impact: The hunting and shooting sports market generates in excess of $30.9 billion dollars of primary economic activity nationally each year, creating and sustaining 986,000 American jobs. There are 31.9 million hunters and recreational shooters in the country. (National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Sporting Goods Association, 1998)
In Utah: Several major firms, including Browning Arms, Barnes Bullets, LAR Manufacturing, North American Arms, Liberty-National Security Safe, Rock Mountain Safe, Pro-Steel Safe, Ft. Knox Safe, and many others provide high paying, skilled jobs to many hundreds of Utah residents, and contribute to a viable sales and property tax base for their communities.
Federal Brady Law: Since early 1994, Brady has mandated a criminal background check at point of sale on buyers of all handguns, and since late 1998, for all firearms, new or used (rifle, shotgun or handgun) when purchased from a federally-licensed dealer (FFL). The National Instant Check System (NICS) has now largely replaced a 5-day wait, except where individual state laws impose a waiting period or state records are non-compliant with federal requirements. FFL dealers at gun shows, pawn shops, exhibitions and all other sales locations have complied with this requirement since early 1994. FBI is now widely reportedly as retaining Brady records in violation of existing federal law, to establish a Federal gun owner database.
In Utah: Compliance with Federal Brady mandate has been satisfied by Utah BCI Instant Check system since early 1994. Total annual checks for 1999 currently projected at about 75,000 to 80,000. In 1997 the rejection rate (for handguns only) was 2.4%. This means almost 98% of all Utah gun buyers are required to pay a state fee to prove they have no disqualifying record before the exercise of a constitutional right. In 1997, reasons for Brady rejections were divided about equally for criminal record, outstanding warrants and domestic violence record/protective orders.(DPS/BCI Crime in Utah, 1997, with 1999 projections based on updated Brady statistics for Dec 1998, Jan, Feb. and Mar. 1999)
Actual Effect on Criminals: Since early 1994, Utah has not arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted or incarcerated a single disqualified individual for 'attempt to purchase' a firearm in violation of Brady laws. Nationally convictions for 'attempt to purchase' by disqualified individuals under Brady now total 7 since early 1994. There are now in excess of 20,000 federal, state and local gun laws on the books, yet few if any have proven clearly effective in reducing violence or a criminal's access to firearms. Some 93% of firearms used in crime are reported as stolen or come from some other uncontrollable source.(DPS/BCI, US DoJ, BATF)
FBI Uniform Crime Report, published annually by the US DoJ & FBI.
National Crime Victimization Survey, published annually by US DoJ, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Crime in Utah, published annually by Utah DPS, Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Dr. Gary Kleck,PhD, Florida State University, multiple research studies including Targeting Guns, Aldine De Gruyter. NY. 1997
Prof. John R. Lott, David B. Mustard, Crime, Deterrence and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns, University of Chicago study, 1997
Prof. John R. Lott, William W. Landes, Multiple Victim Public Shootings, Bombings, and Right To Carry Concealed Handgun Laws: Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement, University of Chicago School of Law, 1998. (Available online at htp://www.law.uchicago.edu/Publications/Working/index.html)
James Wright, Peter Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous, US Department of Justice study, 1986
More Guns, Less Crime, John R. Lott Jr. 1998, University of Chicago Press. USA
Second Amendment Primer, Les Adams, 1996, Palladium Press, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Guns, Crime and Freedom, Wayne LaPierre, 1994, Regnery Publishing, Washington DC, USA
Gun Control and the Constitution, Sources and Explorations of the Second Amendment, Robert J. Cottrol, Editor, 1994 Garland Publishing, New York and London.
Criminal Justice? The Legal System vs. Individual Responsibility, Robert James Bidinotto, Editor, 1994, Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on Husdson, NY, USA
That Every Man Be Armed, The Evolution of a Constitutional Right, Stephen Halbrook, 1984, Independent Institute, Oakland, CA, USA
Gun Owners of Utah: e-mail to goutah@goutahorg.org or website www.goutah.org
National Rifle Association of America: websites www.nra.org or www.nraila.org
Gun Owners of America: website www.gunowners.org
Citizens Committee for Right to Keep and Bear Arms: website www.ccrkba.org
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