Rap music did it

[tikistitch]

Gun Ownership as a Risk Factor for Homicide in the Home

Arthur L. Kellermann, Frederick P. Rivara, Norman B. Rushforth, Joyce G. Banton, Donald T. Reay, Jerry T. Francisco, Ana B. Locci, Janice Prodzinski, Bela B. Hackman, and Grant Somes

Background It is unknown whether keeping a firearm in the home confers protection against crime or, instead, increases the risk of violent crime in the home. To study risk factors for homicide in the home, we identified homicides occurring in the homes of victims in three metropolitan counties.

Methods After each homicide, we obtained data from the police or medical examiner and interviewed a proxy for the victim. The proxies' answers were compared with those of control subjects who were matched to the victims according to neighborhood, sex, race, and age range. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were calculated with matched-pairs methods.

Results During the study period, 1860 homicides occurred in the three counties, 444 of them (23.9 percent) in the home of the victim. After excluding 24 cases for various reasons, we interviewed proxy respondents for 93 percent of the victims. Controls were identified for 99 percent of these, yielding 388 matched pairs. As compared with the controls, the victims more often lived alone or rented their residence. Also, case households more commonly contained an illicit-drug user, a person with prior arrests, or someone who had been hit or hurt in a fight in the home. After controlling for these characteristics, we found that keeping a gun in the home was strongly and independently associated with an increased risk of homicide (adjusted odds ratio, 2.7; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.6 to 4.4). Virtually all of this risk involved homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance.

Conclusions The use of illicit drugs and a history of physical fights in the home are important risk factors for homicide in the home. Rather than confer protection, guns kept in the home are associated with an increase in the risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance.

Obviously, violent video games are to blame.

Comments

[blythou.livejournal.com]

Strangely, in Europe, we have rap music and violent video games and a lot less crazy shooters on the loose. I'm not saying we don't have violence, no, no, no, but it's a different kind of violence and a lot less lethal.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

I was just reading over the weekend, in all the rioting in Paris a couple years back, only one person killed. There were many killed during the LA riots 10 years ago, which lasted for just a few days.

The other thing the NRA people seem to miss is that, last I checked, countries with rational gun control laws are not all horrifying fascist dictatorships--something they seem to fear is coming in the USA if you take away their assault weapons.