In those cases, the presence of a gun neither increased nor decreased the risk of violent death. Instead, researchers found that homes with guns were much more likely to be the scene of a homicide involving a spouse, a family member, or an intimate acquaintance. Survey data gathered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1987 and 1992 estimated that guns are used in self-defense each year approximately 82,000 times. But this figure compares to the annual toll of more than 1.5 million instances of criminal violence involving firearms. Guns probably are used infrequently in self-defense because the criminals often rely on stealth, surprise, or sudden force to achieve their goal.
Few victims have sufficient time to secure a weapon.
The computer systems of many medical care facilities and law enforcement agencies do not lend themselves to tracking nonfatal data. The weapon used in most cases was a handgun. In Memphis, handguns were used in 87 percent of gun-related assaults where the type of weapon was recorded. Handguns account for about one-third of all privately owned firearms in the United States. Researchers have found they needed both hospital emergency reports and police offense reports, but gathering this information is cumbersome and slow.