Weapon Use by Offense Type In 2009:
An offender was armed with a gun, knife, or other object used as a weapon in an estimated 22% of all incidents of violent crime.
Offenders used firearms to commit 8% of violent crime incidents in 2009.
Robberies (47%) were the most likely crime to involve an armed offender.
Firearms (28%) were the most common weapons used in robberies.
Most rapes and assaults did not involve the use of a weapon.
From 1993-1997, of serious nonfatal violent victimizations, 28% were committed with a firearm, 4% were committed with a firearm and resulted in injury, and less than 1% resulted in gunshot wounds.
Source: “BJS” http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/
Firearm Injury and Death from Crime, 1993-97
October 8, 2000 NCJ 182993
Reports on the incidence of fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries that result from crime. Most of the data presented are from the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vital Statistics and the Firearms Injury Surveillance Study which collects data on injuries treated in hospital emergency departments. This BJS Report includes descriptions of victim characteristics and circumstances surrounding the crimes. Data about the number of law enforcement officers injured or killed by firearms are also included.
Highlights:
Of serious nonfatal violent victimizations, 28% were committed with a firearm, 4% were committed with a firearm and resulted in injury, and less than 1% resulted in gunshot wounds.
Of all nonfatal firearm-related injuries treated in emergency departments, 62% were known to have resulted from an assault. For firearm-related fatalities, 44% were homicides.
The number of gunshot wounds from assaults treated in hospital emergency departments fell from 64,100 in 1993 to 39,400 in 1997, a 39% decline.
Homicides committed with a firearm fell from 18,300 in 1993 to 13,300 in 1997, a 27% decline.
Source: “BJS” http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov