Nonfatal firearm misuse: licence status of perpetrators and legality of the firearms James Gardiner and Robyn Norton Philip Alpers zyxwvut Injury Prevention Research Centre, Department zyxwv of Community Health, University of Auckland Auckland zyxwvutsrq Abstract: The primary aim of this study was to identify the licence status of those involved in incidents of nonfatal firearm-related misuse and to determine the involvement of legal firearms in such incidents. Firearm-related attempted suicides were excluded. The study also sought to identify the types of firearms most likely to be misused. Over a three- month period in early 1994, all nonfatal firearm-related incidents reported in any New Zealand newspaper were identified by a commercial clipping bureau. Data pertaining to the licence status and the legality of the firearm involved in these incidents were obtained from the police who completed a standardised questionnaire under the Official Information Act (1982). Over the study period, 78 incidents yielded information zy on 97 perpetrators and 100 firearms. Of the 97 perpetrators, 66 per cent were unlicensed, 20 per cent were licensed, the licence status of 8 per cent of the perpetrators was unknown and the remaining 7 per cent were using air guns, and therefore a licence was not required. Half of the perpetrators involved in domestic disputes were licensed. zyx OQ the 100 firearms, 44 per cent were classified as ‘legal firearms’ and 56 per cent were classified as ‘illegal firearms’. These findings suggest that strategies aimed at reducing or preventing injury due to firearm misuse must focus on both licensed and unlicensed individuals and both legal and illegal firearms. (Aust NZJPublzc Health 1996; 20: 479-82) HE United States (US) is undergoing what could only be described as a firearm- and T handgun-related epidemic of violence. Re- cent reports suggest that firearms have now sur- passed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of traumatic de,ath in five states.’ Overall, US handgun murders rose from 8000 in 1988 to 13 000 in 1992, a rise of 87.5 pier cent.> Five million new handguns are manufactured every year in the US, and in 1993, 71 million handguns were thought to be in circulation. ’ One in three US households is thought to own a handgun; in 1992, whereas 14 million US house- holds owned a personal computer, 25 million owned a handg~n.~ Currently, in New Zealand and Australia, the lev- els of both handgun- and firearm-related violence are significantlylower than in the US, as are levels of firearm ownership.%* Nevertheless, significant num- bers of people are killed and hospitalised annually as a result of firearm-related violence.Y-” zyxwvu As a conse- quence, effoi t is needed not only to prevent any fur- ther escalation in firearm-related violence but also to reduce the current levels of violence. The most appropriate intervention strategies to achieve these goals are, however, the subject of some The pro-gun lobby groups in both Australia and Correspondence to James Gardiner, Injury Prevention Research Centre, Department of Community Health, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. Fax (54 9 373 7503, e-mail zyxwvutsr j.gardiner@auckland.ac.nz New Zealand appear to believe that most incidents of firearm misuse are committed by unlicensed own- ers with illegal weapons, and as a consequence they should be the target of intervention strategies. The licensed, legal owners, by comparison, should not be targeted. It has been suggested, for example, that .._ to spend a disproportionate amount of time on the firearms owned by registered owners is a waste of public resources when almost all the offending with firearms occurs with those which are in possession of unauthorised users.” The pro-gun lobby also appears to believe that mentally ill people are responsible for a large pro- portion of the firearm homicides committed, and that the listing of these people on a register of per- sons unable to obtain a firearm licence would result in a significantly lower firearm homicide The extent to which these beliefs are well founded is unknown. Not only is there uncertainty about the numbers and types of firearms held legally in New Zealand (let alone illegally), but also little is known about the licence status of perpetrators, and the legality of the firearms involved in incidents of mis- use. Information of this nature would assist in the design of public health strategies aimed at minimis- ing incidents of firearm misuse in New Zealand and Australia, primarily through the identification of tar- get groups at whom interventions might be directed. The primary aim of this paper, therefore, was to con- tribute new knowledge about incidents of firearm misuse by determining both the licence status of those involved in incidents of nonfatal firearm mis- use and the involvement of legal firearms in such AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH zyxwv 1996 vot. 20 NO. 5 479