Almost 75% of All Homicides Now Caused by Firearms, U.S. Reports
The proportion of homicides from gunfire in the United States jumped 18% in 10 years, making firearms the cause of almost three-quarters of all homicides, the government said Thursday.
The data demonstrates the need for more wide-ranging crime prevention tactics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The federal agency said 12,078 of the 19,893 homicides in the United States in 1985 were committed with guns--about 61% of the cause of all homicides. In 1994, 17,190 of the 23,720 homicides were pegged to gunfire, or 72%.
Young people fared worse. Proportions of murders of people between the ages of 15 and 24 by guns rose 30% over the last decade. Of the 4,772 homicides in 1985 involving this age group, 3,194 were committed with guns. In 1994, 6,740 of the 7,770 homicides involved guns, the CDC said.
“We need to see that guns are playing a major role in homicides,” said Dr. Gail Stennies, a CDC medical epidemiologist who analyzed death certificates from 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1985 to 1993.
Gun control advocates say the 18% jump shows gun bans are needed. “We’ve been saying all along that we need to get the guns out of the hands of criminals and kids,” said Jamie Shor, a spokeswoman for Handgun Control Inc.
The National Rifle Assn. said Thursday that it would wait to comment until after looking at the CDC report.
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