There may be additional factors that have not been mentioned, and these need to be identified and explored as firearm injury prevention programs are implemented in the state. To this point, this document's main focus has been the impact of firearm violence on people of various ages, both nationally and in Michigan. There are other victims of crime, however, who are not physically injured, but because of where they live must deal with the effect of crime every day. They live in high-crime areas with gang violence, drug dealing, or both. Both communities and individuals are negatively affected by the patterns of firearm violence associated with gangs and drugs.
Communities can take measures that protect their citizens and take back their streets.
In neighborhoods the social signs of crime can include prostitutes soliciting customers, drug dealers conducting business in the light of day, teenagers loitering on street corners, or derelicts panhandling. Property values may decrease, and those who can afford it may move. A study of firearm-related hospitalizations in California reveals that males aged 15B24 accounted for 72 percent of 9,562 hospitalizations. Nineteen percent of the patients were uninsured, and 56 percent were covered by publicly financed health insurance. Males aged 15B29 accounted for 54 percent of the hospitalizations.