Gun Stats & Facts

Rank of the Lorcin 380 in the ATF's top ten most-traced firearms: 1
Number of so called "Junk Guns" in the top ten: 6
(Source: ATF 1996 Firearms Enforcement Report)


Number of firearms produced by US manufacturers every minute: 8
Number of handguns produced by US manufacturers every minute: 3
Number of handguns produced every 2 minutes by ROF in 1995:

1

[Number of pistols produced by Ring of Fire companies in 1995 257,155.

(Source: ATF manufacturing numbers)


Average number of firearm thefts that occur every year in the US: 341,000
(Source: US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Guns and Crime, 4/94)


Number of guns federal firearms licensees have reported as lost, stolen or missing since Sept. 13, 1994 when the Clinton Crime Bill made reporting a requirement: 23,775
Percentage decrease in federal firearms licensees since 1993: 56%
Number of federal firearms licensees in the US: 124,286
Number of ATF agents to regulate them: 391
Number of trace requests responded to by the ATF in 1996: 139,092
Number of ATF employees who work on trace requests: 41
(Source: ATF: Gun Dealer Licensing and Illegal Gun Trafficking, Jan.,1997)


Percentage of Americans who agree that "companies that manufacture guns with no hunting or sporting purpose should be held financially responsible when these guns injure or kill people": 45
(Source: BJS Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics, pg. 190)


Percentage of Americans who feel that "the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict": 62
(Source: BJS Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics, pg. 191)


Number of federal safety standards that apply to the manufacture of teddy bears: 4
Number of federal safety standards that apply to the manufacture of firearms: 0
(Mother Jones, Jan-Feb/94)


Number of firearms in the US: 223 Million
(Source: US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Guns Used in Crime, 7/95, from ATF data)


Percentage of L.A. High School students who say they could obtain a gun for less than $50: 25
(Source: ACLU report: From Words to Weapons, 3/97)


Percentage of arrestees who say it is easy to get a gun illegally: 55
(Source: Arrestees and Guns: Monitoring the Illegal Firearms Market, 5/96)


Percentage of all Saturday Night Specials produced by the "Ring of Fire" companies: 80
Percentage of all handguns produced by the "Ring of Fire" companies in 1992: 34
(Source: Wintemute, G.J. Ring of Fire: The Handgun Makers of Southern California (Sacramento, CA: Violence Prevention Research Program, 1994))


Number of murders committed in 1995 in the US: 20,043
Percentage of murders committed with a firearm: 68 (13,673)
Percentage of murders committed with a handgun: 56 (11,198)
(Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1995)


Projected year when deaths from gunfire will surpass death from auto accidents: 2001
(Source: CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Fact Sheet, 1/25/96)


Year that the NRA supported a SNS importation ban and called the guns "miserably-made, potentially defective arms that contribute so much to rising violence" : 1968
(Source: "Are we Really So Violent?" American Rifleman, February, 1968.)


Cost of firearms assault injuries per fatal gunshot wound: $21,700
Total cost per survivor of gunshot wounds caused by assault: $260,000
Total cost of firearm assault injury and death in 1992: $63.4 billion
(Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics - Firearm Injury from Crime - 4/96)


Cost of a Lorcin .22 handgun at a Pasadena California sporting goods store: $40
(Source: Center for Investigative Reporting)


Number of people killed by firearms every hour in America: 4
(Source: CDC)


Number of crime victims that were shot in 1994: 32,162
(Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1995, pg. 274)


Number of violent crimes reported to police that were committed with firearms in 1994: 544,880
(Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1995, pg. 274)


Percent increase in juveniles arrested for weapons violations from '85-'94 : 113
(Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1995, pg. 276)


Number of violent crime victimizations committed with a firearm in 1993: 1.3 million
Number in 1995: 815,130
(Source: National Crime Victimization Survey, Cited in Guns Used in Crime, pg.1)


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