The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at all gunshot wounds reported at emergency rooms, whether they were intentional, accidental or self-inflicted. This progress is really encouraging and really says that joint prevention efforts of public health officials, legislators and law enforcement should continue. But the latest figures also include suicides and accidental deaths. Moreover, nonfatal shootings fell from 104,390 to 64,207 in the same period, or from 40.5 per 100,000 to 24.0. Police were not treating guns in a preventive sense prior to 1993 and now they are.
Some experts also credit a strong economy that has helped reduce overall crime and suicide attempts.
Margaret A. Zahn, a North Carolina State University criminology professor, said prosperity has also allowed governments to spend more on services that prevent gun violence, such as domestic-violence shelters and youth recreation programs. The CDC also listed such possible factors as an aging population, increased gun safety measures and the waning of the crack trade. Gun control advocates said they are encouraged, but pointed out that even so, an average of 265 people a day were shot in 1997. Everybody is still at risk, and the presence of guns should still be a major concern. All rights reserved.