Lethal Weapons: Effects of Firearm Types on the Outcome of Violent Encounters

• Published date: 01 December 2007
• Author: Jay Corzine,Nicholas E. Libby
• DOI: 10.3818/JRP.9.2.2007.113
• Date: 01 December 2007
• Subject Matter: Article

Lethal Weapons • 113

*

Lethal Weapons: Effects of Firearm Types on the

 Outcome of Violent Encounters

Nicholas E. Libby

Jay Corzine

University of Central Florida

* Abstract

This study investigates the impact of weapon usage on the lethality of violent

interpersonal encounters. Additionally, key situational and contextual factors from

the criminal events perspective are controlled. Data were collected from the National

Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

(FBI). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the effects of rearm

subtypes, as well as effects of automatic vs. semiautomatic rearms on lethality.

All basic weapon types signicantly increased lethality. Various situational and

contextual variables such as incident circumstance and victim-offender relationship

affected chances of death as well. Automatic weapons were not found to signicantly

increase lethality when compared to their semiautomatic counterparts.

Correspondence should be directed to the rst author via email at nlibby@mail.ucf.edu.

The authors would like to thank John P. Jarvis and Kenna Quinet for their assistance,

comments, and suggestions.

JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2007

© 2007 Justice Research and Statistics Association

114 • JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY

Lethal Weapons • 115

Violent crime has long been a topic of interest to the general public and social

scientists in the United States. It is well known that the United States has a high

rate of homicide compared to other industrialized nations. However, according

to survey data, the number of serious assault incidents in the United States tends

to be similar to or even lower than reported rates in many industrialized na-

tions (Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS], 2004).1 Although several explanations

have been offered for this pattern of “exceptionalism” in levels of interpersonal

violence, the widespread availability of rearms in relation to most other indus-

trialized nations has been a major focus in debates among policymakers and

scholars alike (Kleck, 1997; National Research Council, 2005; Wright, Rossi, &

Daly, 1983). The “weapon instrumentality” argument for the role of rearms in

violent crime is straightforward: Guns are more lethal than other weapons (e.g.,

knives) commonly used in assaults, and their increased prevalence in particular

geographical areas or types of interpersonal violence will produce a higher fatal-

ity rate. The criminal events perspective provides a theoretical framework for

analyzing the contribution of victim, offender, and situational, including weap-

ons, characteristics to the likelihood of lethality in violent encounters (Sacco &

Kennedy, 1996; Weaver et al., 2004).

Given that weaponry has been shown to inuence the outcome of violent

interactions, rearms warrant specic attention due to their capability to inict

serious, potentially lethal injury (Weaver et al., 2004) and to the fact that they are

extremely prevalent in society, with between 30% and 50% of U.S. households

owning a rearm (Brezina & Wright, 2000; Wright et al., 1983). The focus of the

present research is to examine the impact of rearms on lethality while controlling

for the effects of other situational, contextual, and demographic variables. Spe-

cically, it will focus on the differential impact that rearm types (e.g., handgun,

rie, shotgun) have on the potential for a violent interpersonal encounter to result

in a lethal outcome. Additionally, this study will analyze the effect of using auto-

matic rearms2 as opposed to semiautomatics on the chances of serious violence

resulting in a homicide. This research is benecial in that further understanding

of what factors inuence the lethality of violent encounters enhances our ability

to design prevention programs and to pass legislation designed to reduce the loss

of life from homicide. This line of research is particularly important in the realm

1 In the late 1990s, the U.S. survey data indicated a rate of about 7 serious assaults

per 1,000 people. In the United Kingdom, the rate was about 12 per 1,000 (victims aged

16 and up only). Australia survey results suggested nearly 28 people out of 1,000 were

victims of an assault. Finally, Canadian data indicate that for every 1,000 people roughly

11 were victims of this type of crime.

2 For the purposes of this study, automatic rearms are those with the capability to

re multiple rounds with a single, sustained suppression of the trigger. Conversely, semi-

automatic rearms shoot one round per single pull of the trigger.