Study Shows Those Armed More Likely To Be Shot

Oct 6, 2009

Washington, DC - A new study by University of Pennsylvania researchers shows that people in possession of a firearm are almost 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault than people who are not in possession of a firearm. The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and appears in the November 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

The published conclusions state “on average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault.  Although successful defensive gun uses occur each year, the probability of success may be low for civilian gun users in urban areas.”

Possessors of guns may be in more, not less, danger for a number of reasons, researchers wrote.  Offenders often use surprise to overpower their victims, making it difficult to use a gun for self-defense; if a victim is able to draw a gun, it signals to the offender that he must use maximum force to overpower the victim.  In addition, the increased possibility of guns being carried in the community may lead to an escalation in the lethality of weapons brought to an argument, researchers argued.

Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, responded to the report as follows:

“The study’s findings show once again the risks of gun ownership and how having more guns correlates with more gun violence. This research severely undermines the argument by gun pushers that carrying a gun automatically makes a person safer.  In urban areas, gun possessors, far from being protected by their guns, are at an increased risk of harm. Restrictions on carrying guns clearly makes sense as a smart public safety strategy.”

The study’s lead author is Charles C. Branas, of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Firearm and Injury Center at Penn, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.  Researchers enrolled 677 case participants who had been shot in an assault and 684 control participants. The study lasted from October 2003 through April 2006, was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was published in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

A study abstract is at www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/AJPH.2008.143099v1.

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