GENERAL RESOURCES

Firearms Research: Prevalence, Patterns, and Prevention of Gun Violence
Provides a database of social science, criminology, law reviews, medical and public health research concerning firearms (2003-2009), compiled by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

GunPolicy.org: International Firearm Injury Prevention and Policy
Provides facts and news clips on firearm injury prevention and policy across the world.

Harvard School of Public Health, Injury Control Center: Firearms Research
Provides a compilation of research summaries on firearms.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Gun Policy and Research
Provides publications on a variety of gun violence prevention topics.

National Criminal Justice Reference Service
Searches criminal and juvenile justice publications, reports, articles, and audiovisual products from the United States and around the world including statistics, research findings, program descriptions, congressional hearing transcripts, and training materials.

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control - Guide for Communicating About Injury
Provides guidelines for communicating effectively about injury, including gun injuries. 

PubMed
Searches biomedical and life science journals.

SafetyLit
Searches current and past scholarly research about all aspects of injury prevention, including violence and weapons issues.


RESOURCES BY TOPIC

ASSAULT WEAPONS

California Department of Justice, Bureau of Firearms, Assault Weapon Identification Guide
Describes assault weapons regulated under California’s ban.

BRADY BACKGROUND CHECKS

Background Checks for Firearm Sales
Describes the number of background checks and denials for firearm transfers.

National Instant Criminal Background Check System
Provides an overview of the publications and other research provided by the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Service on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that was created by the Brady Law.

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales
Provides an overview of the firearm check procedures in each State and State interaction with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) operated by the FBI.

CHILDPROOF GUNS

New Jersey Science and Technology University
Spearheads research on childproof gun technology.

COST

Public Services Research Institute
Employs specialists in estimating the cost of injuries, including firearm injuries.

CRIME

Overview Statistics

Homicide Trends in the U. S.
Contains a series of charts that describe homicide patterns and trends in the United States since 1976.  Has a specific area for use of weapons, including guns, in homicide.

Non-fatal Criminal Victimization
Contains tables of data on non-fatal violent crimes, including firearm crimes.  See Table 66 for use of firearms. 

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics: Crime
Pulls together crime data from government reports and nationwide surveys.

Police Reports

Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Easy Access to Supplementary Homicide Reports
Provides a query tool to access supplemental data in police reports that is not included in the FBI’s standard crime report, including data on the age, sex, and race of victims and offenders, the victim-offender relationship, and the type of weapon used.

Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports, Crime in the United States
Provides data tables on crime, including weapon use and justifiable homicide by private citizen. 

Data Query Tool for FBI Uniform Crime Reports
This data query tool builds tables from UCR data, including national crime statistics from 1960 through the most recent year available, state crime statistics from 1960 through the most recent year available, and city and county statistics from 1985 through the most recent year available.

State of the Cities Database
Provides a query tool for police reports of gun crime by city.

Surveys of Victims of Crime

National Crime Victimization Survey
Collects data from a nationally representative sample of 76,000 households comprising nearly 135,300 persons on the frequency, characteristics and consequences of criminal victimization in the United States.  See Table 66 here for use of firearms in crime.

Violent Death Reports Integrating Crime and Health Data Sources

National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)
Collects data on violent deaths from a variety of sources, including death certificates, police reports, medical examiner and coroner reports, and crime laboratories.  Includes information on the location of the death (street/home).

Guns Used in Terrorist Incidents

Global Terrorism Database
Shows terrorist events, both domestic and international, from 1970 to 2010. Each GTD event has information about the date, location, weapon used, nature of target, and casualties of the terrorist incident. Firearms are included as a weapon used by individuals in terrorist attacks.

GUNS IN THE HOME

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
Surveys households on a variety of health risk factors, including access to firearms in and around the home.  Data available by state. 

National Opinion Research Center
Surveys households on gun ownership. Go to Browse Variables, Subject Index, then search under Gun.

GUNS IN AMERICA

Annual Firearms and Manufacturers Report
Data on number of guns manufactured in the U. S. annually and the number exported.

List of Federally Licensed Firearm Dealers
ATF's website provides lists of FFLs for each state, updated monthly.

National Opinion Research Center
Surveys households on gun ownership. Go to Browse Variables, Subject Index, then search under Gun.

GUN TRAFFICKING

Crime Gun Trace Reports (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms)
Provides limited data on guns recovered by police and traced to first retail sale by a federally licensed dealer, by state.

Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Illegal Gun Trafficking Page
Provides a listing of some of the key studies and key academics working on illegal gun trafficking.

GUN VIOLENCE - OVERVIEW STATISTICS

Death Certificates and Emergency Department Admissions

Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS)
Provides an interactive database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data, including gun deaths and injuries. WISQARS also includes a mapping tool allowing users to create national, state, and county maps of firearm deaths, including information on medical costs and work loss costs.

Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER)
Provides a query tool for accessing death data by county.

Violent Death Reports Integrating Crime and Health Data Sources

National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)
Collects data on violent deaths from a variety of sources, including death certificates, police reports, medical examiner and coroner reports, and crime laboratories.  Includes information on the location of the death (street/home).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

International Association of Chiefs of Police
Describes the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s gun violence reduction initiatives, including research.

Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted
Compiles data concerning the felonious and accidental line-of-duty deaths and assaults of law enforcement officers, including weapon use.

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Foundation
Records and appropriately commemorates the service and sacrifice of law enforcement officers; and provides information that will help promote law enforcement safety.

PUBLIC OPINION

iPoll Databank
Search tool to locate national public opinion polls.  Free trial allows limited use.

National Opinion Research Center
Surveys households on opinions on gun-related issues.  Go to Browse Variables, Subject Index, then search under "Gun."

Polling Report
Lists nationwide polls of Americans 18 and older that ask a gun question.

STATE GUN LAWS

Legal Community Against Violence -State Laws
Provides information on gun laws by state, including updates and fact sheets on hot topics in state legislation, including guns on campus and attempts to weaken laws on carrying guns.

National Conference of State Legislatures Research Services
Describes the research services of the National Conference of State Legislatures. NCSL also has a special project on injury, including assault.

STATE LEVEL GUN STATISTICS

Kaiser Family Foundation StateHealthFacts.org
This website provide gun death and violent crime rates by state.

SUICIDE

Means Matters: Suicide, Guns, and Public Health
Summarizes research on the role of guns in suicide.

UNINTENTIONAL

http://ohhshoot.blogspot.com/
Blogs on unintentional shootings.

WOMEN

Intimate Partner Violence: Presence of Weapons
Provides statistics on the presence of weapons in intimate partner violence.

YOUTH

Child Fatality Review
Provides reports from state child fatality death review teams.  The reports often include firearm deaths.