Current policy to address the multiple sales of handguns focuses on restricting the number and timing of gun purchases. We will examine whether these and other characteristics of multiple purchase handguns make them more likely to be used in crime. We report a case control study of all multiple purchases of handguns sold through licensed gun dealers in California in 1996 (48,022 guns). Cases are defined as multiple purchased handguns that appear, within a criminal context, in either the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms gun tracing database or California's Guns in Evidence database through the end of 1999 (approximately 1.3% of multiple purchases). The control population is multiple purchases that do not appear in these databases. We will examine 2 different exposures of a multiple sale: 2 or more handguns purchased within 30 days by one individual, and 2 or more handguns purchased by an individual from the same gun dealer within 5 consecutive business days. Predictors for use in crime include characteristics of the gun (type, caliber, price), the purchaser (gender, age, number of guns purchased), the transaction (number and uniformity of guns in the multiple purchase, timing of purchases), and the dealer (number of traces as a function of sales). Logistic regression will be used to calculate odds ratios.
Learning Objectives: To identify the characteristics of a handgun sold as a part of a multiple purchase that make them more likely to be used in crime; know the major implications of these findings for public policy.
Keywords: Firearms, Violence
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.