Abstract
Objective: To determine risk factors among licensed firearm retailers for disproportionate sales of handguns that are later subjected to ownership tracing, generally after use in crime. Design: Case-control; the study period was 1998-2003. Cases were all eligible firearm retailers whose handguns were later traced at a rate that significantly (p<0.05) exceeded the expected value. Controls were a 4:1 random sample of the remainder. Data were obtained from sales and tracing records for 1998-2003 and site visits conducted August-December, 2004. Subjects and setting: 60 cases and 240 controls, from the 573 retailers in California selling ≥ 50 handguns annually during the study period. Main outcome measure: Status as a case. Odds ratios were used to measure relative risk. Results: In multivariate analyses, cases had larger sales volumes, sold inexpensive handguns more often, had a higher percentage of sales denied because the prospective purchasers were prohibited from owning firearms, and were more likely to be in an urban area, in or near a city with a policy of tracing all recovered crime guns. The effects of several risk factors, including status as a pawnbroker and sales to law enforcement personnel, appeared to be mediated by purchaser characteristics for which denied sales are a proxy measure. Conclusions: A number of factors-most of them characteristics of the retailers or of their handgun purchasers, and most of them available in existing data- were linked to disproportionate sales of handguns that are later used in crime.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 291-299 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Injury Prevention |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2009 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Cite this
Disproportionate sales of crime guns among licensed handgun retailers in the United States : A case-control study. / Wintemute, Garen J.
In: Injury Prevention, Vol. 15, No. 5, 10.2009, p. 291-299.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Disproportionate sales of crime guns among licensed handgun retailers in the United States
T2 - A case-control study
AU - Wintemute, Garen J
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - Objective: To determine risk factors among licensed firearm retailers for disproportionate sales of handguns that are later subjected to ownership tracing, generally after use in crime. Design: Case-control; the study period was 1998-2003. Cases were all eligible firearm retailers whose handguns were later traced at a rate that significantly (p<0.05) exceeded the expected value. Controls were a 4:1 random sample of the remainder. Data were obtained from sales and tracing records for 1998-2003 and site visits conducted August-December, 2004. Subjects and setting: 60 cases and 240 controls, from the 573 retailers in California selling ≥ 50 handguns annually during the study period. Main outcome measure: Status as a case. Odds ratios were used to measure relative risk. Results: In multivariate analyses, cases had larger sales volumes, sold inexpensive handguns more often, had a higher percentage of sales denied because the prospective purchasers were prohibited from owning firearms, and were more likely to be in an urban area, in or near a city with a policy of tracing all recovered crime guns. The effects of several risk factors, including status as a pawnbroker and sales to law enforcement personnel, appeared to be mediated by purchaser characteristics for which denied sales are a proxy measure. Conclusions: A number of factors-most of them characteristics of the retailers or of their handgun purchasers, and most of them available in existing data- were linked to disproportionate sales of handguns that are later used in crime.
AB - Objective: To determine risk factors among licensed firearm retailers for disproportionate sales of handguns that are later subjected to ownership tracing, generally after use in crime. Design: Case-control; the study period was 1998-2003. Cases were all eligible firearm retailers whose handguns were later traced at a rate that significantly (p<0.05) exceeded the expected value. Controls were a 4:1 random sample of the remainder. Data were obtained from sales and tracing records for 1998-2003 and site visits conducted August-December, 2004. Subjects and setting: 60 cases and 240 controls, from the 573 retailers in California selling ≥ 50 handguns annually during the study period. Main outcome measure: Status as a case. Odds ratios were used to measure relative risk. Results: In multivariate analyses, cases had larger sales volumes, sold inexpensive handguns more often, had a higher percentage of sales denied because the prospective purchasers were prohibited from owning firearms, and were more likely to be in an urban area, in or near a city with a policy of tracing all recovered crime guns. The effects of several risk factors, including status as a pawnbroker and sales to law enforcement personnel, appeared to be mediated by purchaser characteristics for which denied sales are a proxy measure. Conclusions: A number of factors-most of them characteristics of the retailers or of their handgun purchasers, and most of them available in existing data- were linked to disproportionate sales of handguns that are later used in crime.
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U2 - 10.1136/ip.2007.017301
DO - 10.1136/ip.2007.017301
M3 - Article
C2 - 19805596
AN - SCOPUS:70350129012
VL - 15
SP - 291
EP - 299
JO - Injury Prevention
JF - Injury Prevention
SN - 1353-8047
IS - 5
ER -