For Immediate Release:
July 15, 1998

CONTACT: Carole Gan, Public Affairs
(916) 734-9040

PURCHASE OF ASSAULT WEAPONS LINKED TO CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

Sacramento, Calif. - Young adults who legally purchased assault-type firearms in California in 1988 were twice as likely to have a prior criminal history and were as much as three times as likely to be charged with new, violent crimes as those who purchased other handguns, say investigators at the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis.

These conclusions, based on a study of more than 5,000 young adult handgun purchasers, are published in the July issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

"Our study shows that preference for purchasing assault-type handguns is closely linked to new criminal activity in those who already have a criminal record when they buy their guns," says Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine physician who specializes in the study of guns and violence and their impact on public health.

The study included 5,360 young adults who passed background checks and legally purchased handguns in 1988, the year before assault-type weapons were banned in California. Those with a prior criminal history were twice as likely as those with no criminal history to purchase assault-type handguns (4.6 percent and 2 percent, respectively). Moreover, among purchasers with a previous criminal record, those who purchased assault-type handguns were 70 percent more likely to be charged with new crimes involving guns or violence within three years of the purchase. Among those who had previously been charged with any crime involving guns or violence, those who purchased assault-type handguns were two to three times as likely to be charged with new crimes involving guns or violence as those who purchased other handguns.

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act banned the production of certain high-capacity, semi-automatic handguns, rifles and shotguns in 1994. And the importing of "copycat" guns was banned in April 1998. These firearms, which include the Uzi pistol, MAC 10 pistol, and TEC 9, among others, have a high ammunition capacity, rapid rate of sustained fire, and other design features that can cause more serious injuries to the body than other types of guns that are legal to own.

"It is important to emphasize that all the young adults in our study purchased their handguns legally," says Wintemute. Federal laws prevent minors, substance abuse addicts, the mentally ill, and persons convicted of felonies and domestic violence from legally purchasing firearms. And California law now prohibits those who have been convicted of many violent misdemeanors from purchasing firearms. However, no laws in any jurisdiction prevent all persons with a prior criminal history from purchasing a gun.

"We were particularly struck by the fact that, among those who purchased assault-type handguns and had previously been charged with any crime involving guns or violence, more than half were charged with new crimes involving guns or violence within three years of buying their handguns."

The UC Davis study is based on firearms data from the California Department of Justice, which maintains a computerized registry of all approved purchases of firearms made through licensed firearms dealers.

The study is the latest in a series of reports by the Violence Prevention Research Program. The study is supported by a grant from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.